A Mini McDonald Family Reunion

My "little" brother James drove down from Chicago this weekend to visit the family and we sure had a wonderful time hanging out with him.  The kids and I were over at Gran and Pawpaw's lake house on Thursday afternoon when he arrived and then Brian was was able to join us for a dinner of Nunberger wurst and German potato salad.  Then on Friday evening we all met over at Grandmother and Granddaddy's house for a delicious dinner of two types of pasta (bowties with sage and browned butter and gnocchi with Gorgonzola) plus salad, bread and dessert.  Saturday morning we headed back to the lake house for one more visit and lunch (pizza!).

This last visit I finally had my camera with me and brought it out to take some pictures! This, of course, was the one I was really interested in making sure we got.  I thought I had missed out on our opportunity for cooperative kids, since Sarah had a meltdown at lunch right before we were going to take the picture, but she rallied beautifully and both kids were super cheerful when it came time to pose.  Hooray!

But to back up, we had a few pressing tasks to take care of while we were out at the lake house.  Our first activity involved firing up the chainsaw and cutting some birch logs to length to brighten up our fireplace.  I told James that I was taking a picture just to test out the light (which I was), but then I liked this so much I decided to keep it!

Once everyone was equipped with hearing protection, Pawpaw started up the chainsaw and got to work on the logs.  He had a rapt audience!

Then it was time to take rides on the UTV.  Nathan is always thrilled to take rides with Pawpaw!

Next it was Sarah's turn.  She picked Gran's lap to ride in and Daddy as her driver.  She, Nathan and Gran had collected acorns from Granddaddy and Grandmother's house the day before to spread around the property, so her job during this ride was to throw them along the road as they road.  Gran said that she took her job very seriously!

Of course, quite a few games of "pool balls" had to be played for this to qualify as a thorough visit to the lake house!  Nathan LOVES playing with anyone who's up for a game.  

Thanks so much "Uncle James" for coming down for a wonderful visit!  We are eagerly anticipating the next time we'll get to see you!