River Weekend

We knew we couldn't let Caleb's whole summer in Iowa City go by without bringing him to McGregor.  We happen to think it's one of Iowa's best kept secrets.  Our summer was already packed with traveling and weekends away, so finding a free weekend was a bit challenging.  After we settled on last weekend, I started getting nervous with the hot, hot temps in the weeks leading up to it.  But the heat wave broke just in time, and we had FABULOUS weather for our time on the river.

Jonah is becoming a traveling pro, and slept the whole way to McGregor.  After a less than great night sleep (too much sleeping late in the evening??), we were up and at 'em early Saturday morning.  First stop: breakfast at the Old Man.  It was delicious, and we had the whole place to ourselves (good for us and our noisy baby...not so good for the owners).

We decided to head out on the boat early to claim our spot at "the lake" - and it's a good thing we did, because it was a busy afternoon on the river!  I remember taking the boat out to this exact spot as a kid and seeing maybe three or four other boats all afternoon.  I guess the word is out, and now it's the place to be on a Saturday afternoon.  At one point, my mom counted 76 other boats anchored out enjoying the sun.  The cool thing to do now is tie your boat to other boats in big, long chains.  We counted one line of 13 boats!  This always makes me think of the Craig Morgan song, "Redneck Yacht Club."

Along for the ride we had:  Grandma Great and Grandpa Great (our Captain!), Grandma Strutt, Uncle Caleb, Uncle Bob, and my cousin Cheri and her kids - Mariah (4), Taryn (2.5)  and Trace (1):

And of course, myself, Brandon and Jonah!  Also joining us later in the afternoon were Cheri's husband, Jon, and Rob's friend, Whitney.  It was a perfect day to be on the river, and we took full advantage.  Nobody was up for skiing, but we did a far amount of swimming, jumping, floating and sunning - with a little reading and napping mixed in.  It was a gerund-filled day of goodness :)

Playing with Grandma Great

Brandon playing with Mariah and Taryn

Jonah didn't get in the water this time... But he was dressed for the occasion in his boating attire!

And we ended the evening watching fireworks over the river from the top of the houseboat.  Not too shabby!  This was pretty great because we missed out on fireworks on the 4th of July - too hot and too late this year.  Is it bad that we're often in bed before it's dark enough for fireworks??

Before heading up top to enjoy the fireworks, however, we all paused to enjoy a rare sight:  Caleb's hair sans mousse - after a day swimming in the river...