I decided to invite myself along to fourth of July festivities on White Bear Lake. Jared’s friend, Courtney, and her family have an amazing lakeside house with a little beachfront cabana.

The water in the lake was really low, which gave us an extended beach on which to play badminton, ladderball, and build sand castles. In the afternoon, Noah took Kristi and me wading and we caught tadpoles. Kristi caught a tadpole that had whiskers—of course, it was actually a baby bullhead. It was cute (and not slimy yet)!

It rained lightly for about 10 minutes. We all took shelter under the beach umbrellas and a few of the smarter people went in the cabana. The umbrellas leaked and we got a little soaked, but then the sun came out and dried us off. So it all worked out.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t find more critters in the lake, though I probably would’ve been grossed out if I had.

The family that hosted the party had decorated the house with a lot of red, white, and blue. Even the deer head in the office had some glittery, patriotic garlands strewn around its antlers.

Stella was rockin’ the ladybug swimsuit. She even had a ladybug beach robe to wear over it. She was the most fashionable lady at the beach that day.

I’m not sure I ever knew how to play dominoes, but I caught on pretty fast. I think I did pretty well, though we only played three rounds before everyone wandered off in different directions.

Kristi and I walked down the street to the park and public beach. There was a big band getting ready to play, and the fireworks barge was getting final, explosive details together.

There is something on my lens, but I keep forgetting to clean it. Do you see it? It’s a hair in the upper left-hand corner. It’s annoying.

There was one morning at Sullyfest when I woke up and asked my mom if I should wear blue or blue and then literally pulled three different blue shirts out of my bag. I’m starting to think I own too many blue shirts. It was just fate that I happened to get a blue M&M ice cream treat for this photo.

Things that flew over our heads:

1. A boat airplane
2. A Blue Heron
3. A Bald Eagle (cliché, but also pretty cool)

It was fun to see all of the tiny explosions of fireworks around the lake, and Brad made sure we had our own little display before the big show started.

After the fireworks everyone started roasted fancy s’mores—they put a marshmallow and a caramel on their sticks for roasting. I’ve never seen that done before, and I didn’t try it this time but wow. Genius.