Excelsior, MN 2014

We began a new tradition that we hope we can keep…spending July 4th and the holiday weekend in Excelsior MN!  John and I visited the cottage owned and restored by his uncle on Lake Minnetonka for our 10 year anniversary and we couldn't help but think how fun it would be to have the kids along.  So we asked if we could use the cottage with the kids on July 4th and Steve said yes!  We packed up and headed for the lake with a long weekend ahead!  So fun!

The kids loved the cottage and our special getaway. 

Our first order of duty was to introduce the kids to the lake (after a grocery shopping trip and a little unpacking).  They haven't been around lakes much so it was exciting to enjoy the nice beach at Steve's house!

Loading up and buckling up for a walk around Excelsior.

We loved walking around town, playing on the playground and enjoying the beach at Steve's house.

We took a tour of the Big Island on the Steamboat Minnehaha!  The boat was found at the bottom of the lake in the 1980s after it was intentionally sunk (interesting story) about 100 year prior.  It has been restored and now runs historical tours of Lake Minnetonka.  Logan got to steer a couple times while the guide was speaking.

Eden was asleep and Bennett ended up falling asleep too.

It was windy!!!!

Here's the kids giving some USA priced pointing at the flag.  Clearly they weren't feeling camera shy.  

Everyone was looking good in their 4th of July attire!  We sure had a fun filled day!

The walk to the Commons is just a couple minutes from Steve's house so we are able to make the trip a couple times a day to head back to the cottage if needed.  On our way, the baseball fields were open so the boys all took the chance to run the bases.

The Commons was pretty decked out for the 4th: food stands, music, and lots of treats.

Logan getting his groove on...

We couldn't resist the beat...we all had to join in!

And then we got a treat and enjoyed it looking over the lake.  Lake Minnetonka was really high this year so the whole lake was no-wake, leaving it pretty quiet.

The boys were on the lookout for wildlife, but we didn't find much.

My awesome family!

The boys had their tennis rackets along so they played some pick up tennis with some kids.

Eden and I checked out the playground for a while.

Eden was pretty tuckered out...what a full day!

We tried LOTS of food!  We had mini donuts, raspberry lemonade, cheese curds...whoa - the kids were in heaven!

After all that food, we made time for some soccer!

The evening of the 4th, there was an airshow right over the bay so we sat out on Steve's dock with binoculars for a perfect view!

Then came the fireworks, which was awesome and we had such a great view!  We really had the best holiday weekend and we are grateful that Steve let us use the cottage!  Such wonderful memories!