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A 250th 4th of July in Three Lakes

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A couple of weeks after we were last up at the cottage, you say? Not soon enough, we say.

We assumed dinner would have already been done by the time we arrived so we stopped to eat at Culver's in Rhinelander. While we were eating, I got a text from my dad saying he was in Rhinelander with Chelsea at Urgent Care. I guess Viola had taken a hard fall. When we got to the cottage Daniel was just starting dinner. 

We hadn't seen Viola since Christmas, she's a little girl now. She was super shy around us at first. 

She did also just get back from the hospital.

I'm not sure if I approve of fireworks the night we get there, but due to scheduling conflicts that's when Three Lakes got in their fireworks show. 2nd of July fireworks would do.


The next morning Blake made us croissant breakfast sandwiches for breakfast.


Then Viola and I played down by the dock.


Theo would have made a good big brother.


Chelsea gave her boys haircuts and even trimmed my neck hair.



Every boat we own was getting used today.

Fill up water can. Dump in the lake. Repeat. 



These two are swimming buddies. 



The kids asked to go couching. 

That's tubing for normal folks.


Brooke said it couldn't get extreme.




Meadow just got her boat license but still likes to row. 

Me turn, me turn.






The boys were signing more, more. They wanted grandpa to go faster.


I take this basic picture every time we come up here. Never gets old.

I took Viola for a walk and then she suddenly got quiet. Girl passed out. 

Grandpa made fries.

Our new favorite meal, smash burgers. 

Dan's specialty.

The kids prize for their quest was alien glasses.

Not sure if we mentioned it, but Blake always creates riddle quests for the cousins. They love it.

Half of us went a boat ride.



I flew my drone around.

Leave it to Blake to always find fun things for the kids. 



The Three Lakes parade was still going down on the 4th of July.




Hey Theo got to go in one of these a couple weeks ago.














Mostly the same old 4th of July parade, but with a bunch of 250th anniversary AI banners. Well not this one.



We brought along our knives so my dad could sharpen them with his fancy electric knife sharpener. There's always a guy doing this at the farmers market. I was going to take them there when I remembered my dad had one. 

Everyone was getting a haircut today. 

Actually day 2 for the dogs.

Today Brooke made Mr. Mike take out the fishing boat for knee boarding.

I was surprised when Theo said he wanted to try it.

So far so good.


Then he got too scared.

I was impressed he made it this far, I could never.

Chelsea keeps trying and hasn't made it yet.


Meanwhile Brooke and Harvey are pros.

I was sore for days after this, but I'd do it again.

Theo wanted to give it another try. He made it a little farther before getting too scared again.

Couching sounded more fun.



Looks pretty extreme to me.



These two have become quite the buds.



Then the big kids went for a round.


I thought it wasn't as scary as old school tubing? Look at Brittany's face!







All we do on the 4th is stay by the lake: swimming, lounging in the sun, tubing. 



Everyone loves Scott's pizza nights. 

Hey someone managed to take decent pics of me.



We all played Theo's new Diary of a Wimpy Kid game.

I guess Harvey slept in the screen porch last night. 

He was up super late watching TV and ended up sleeping here, I guess.



Meadow, Theo and Marina helped watch Viola.


A little bit more swimming and paddling before calling the long weekend over.

Driving home we thought we'd stop at Dog N Suds. Sadly it was closed today so we tried out Castaways Bar and Grill.

Their homemade chips were pretty good.

This place felt like a Wisconsin version of Zorbaz. It would do.

Meadow is officially old enough to sit in the front seat now.

Brooke and I took turns sitting with Theo in the back.

We somehow ended up on Hwy 29 right by Marieke Gouda so with 10 minutes to spare we made a quick stop.

We'd recently seen a show about them on PBS's Wisconsin Foodie. The cheese lived up to the hype.

They also serve Olson's Ice Cream from nearby Chippewa Falls.

This was damn good ice cream.

This place was so fun. Definitely stopping here anytime we are on Hwy 29. 


See you later, Wisconsin!

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