4th of July

We had a very nice 4th of July up at the lake. Jason, Eli, & I got there Thursday night. Mother and Daddy were there and kept Eli for Jason and I to go out on a nice date night. We went to Sinclair's restaurant at Kowaliga, right on the water and less than 5 minutes from the lake house. We had a delicious meal -- I had the parmesean crusted trout and Jason had the ribeye. The place was packed because of the holiday so that made it fun too. Friday morning we went to watch the boat parade. Anyone can enter, you just have to decorate your boat. Eli enjoyed watching the parade and fell asleep on the way home. That afternoon we boated up to Chimney Rock to watch the jumpers. Chimney Rock, as it is called by the locals, has a spot about 60 feet up that folks jump from. There are also lower jump spots for the kids and less daring adults. That afternoon we had a feast of ribs, grilled corn, baked beans, slaw, tomatoes, sweet tea, key lime pie and cheesecake!
I spent most of the weekend in the water swimming, nice to be weightless and so mobile! I did a fair amount of boat riding too. During our ride up to Chimney Rock there were tons of boats on the water, making it a very choppy ride. After riding all afternoon holding onto my stomach so as not to have a baby pop out 2 months early, we decided my boat riding days are over for a little while!
We do not have any pictures of the fireworks from Friday night, but they were spectacular -- considered one of the best shows in the southeast. Our entire crowd hopped on the boat and watched the show from the water just around the corner from our house. I stayed behind since Eli was sleeping, plus we were curious how well we could see the fireworks from our pier. I was not disappointed. I was able to see 90% of the fireworks and they were right over the trees of our slough. The rest of our group was right under them, but the pier view was excellent as well.
It was a great holiday!

Eli celebrating the 4th!
Our cousins Sonya & Ray joined us for the fun:
The boat parade at Children's Harbor:
Boat parade with Kowaliga Bridge in the background:
Eli enjoying his first boat parade:

Chimney Rock:Cousin Sonya and her daughter Annabelle in matching suits:

Darryl grilling the delicious ribs: