Happy Birthday America!

I adore the fourth of July. I really, really do! I love that it's in the heat of summer. I love the 3 day weekend (supposedly), I love eating hot dogs cooked over a fire, and burning my fingers with gooey, hot mallows in the quest for a perfect s'more. I love the swimming, the beer drinking, the cornhole, the four-wheeling, the Hop Skip (Thanks Stephen!), the campfire, the fireworks, the fishing. I love it all!!

Last year, we decided that it would be fun to have a family get together with Matt's siblings and family down at his Mom and Dad's lake. Several of us decided to camp out and make a weekend of it. It was a blast.

Now, it's tradition. We're doing this thing! So we packed up our gear and headed down for 4th of July, Southern Indiana style, take two! All of Matthew's siblings made it this year- along with Sweet Baby Nolan.

One of the highlights of the weekend is the boat race. This is a very serious event. It is a tradition that Matthew's family participated in every year when the kids were young. Everyone built a sailboat, and then they raced them across the lake on the 4th. There was always a prize for the winning boat.

Now, we're adults and the ante has. been. upped.

We all have more skills, better ideas, and access to superior materials. Now, it would seem that we're all on an equal playing field- yet one boat has prevailed two years in a row... OURS!! That's right, "MOES" can kick some tail. Even with all of the trash talk that spoken by a certain someone, MOES still came out victorious. It's okay though, the boat belonging to the owner who did the trash talking, didn't completely sink before being rescued by paddle boat. ;)

It is a really fun competetion, and it's exciting to see what ideas everyone comes up with. My favorite boat this year was Stephen and Jacki's. "The Destroyer"

Their boat was creative/hilarious/slightly dangerous. It was great to see this thing going off on the water.

I fully expect to see some pretty amazing boats next year, Gessners are nothing if not competitive and I don't believe for a second that our 2x victory will go unavenged for another year.

Owen won a kite because of our boat- and he had fun flying it with Grandma Carol, who according to Owen, "really knows what she's doing." I'd say that she does... Check out this professional-looking kite flying pose.

On Sunday night, we went to Santa Claus with Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Kenny to watch the fireworks. Owen was thrilled to get to see his sweet cousin Riley and his cousin/twin, Wyatt. The kids enjoyed watching the fireworks together, and we were thankful to get to see Craig and Marlene for a little bit.

This is such a fun weekend, and I'm thankful for the time that we get to spend with family!