Angola, Indiana

Loading up the car in Rochester was a super duper pain because we'd had a nice, long stop, done laundry, removed the kids' toys from the car, etc., so it was like starting over again! We left straight from Aunt Debbie's party and set the GPS for Grandpa and Grandma Forman's summer house on Crooked Lake in Angola; about a two hour trip.

This is a little sneak peak into our traveling rig, from the back. We loved our folding trailer hitch rack, and you can see we were packed to the brim.

We spend almost every Fourth of July weekend with the Formans at Crooked Lake, and it is a time of relaxation and family. Even the always-on-the-go Forman guys chill out at the lake. Franz's parents were already there when we arrived.

Isn't this a great picture of four generations of Forman men?

Frank's sister Charlyn, her daughter Stephanie, and Stephanie's four kids joined us on Sunday for the day. Madeline and Katie had fun with the twins, and Jackson was pretty keen on little Addison Mae.

The girls spent every moment of good weather outside swimming, playing on the hammock or swing, taking walks, and chasing down hapless insects.

Kamikazee Jackson has a "thing" for water and open doorways, so I spent my time racing around closing doors and swiveling my head around like an owl to keep him in sight at all times. His favorite activity was lining up all his matchbox cars, which he would spend consecutive hours arranging with precision. The hammock was a second runner-up.

Franz and I used our "time-out" at the lake to finalize some upcoming travel plans, and psych ourselves up for four weeks on the road, different hotels every night and taking on the big East Coast cities. For the kids, this break was a critical rest from traveling, and allowed them to happily anticipate setting out again.

One of my favorite pictures of the summer.