My red, white, and blue

Well, hello there my lovely! Last weekend, as most of you know, was Independence Day weekend, which is my second favourite holiday in the year...right up there with, of course, magical Christmas. :) Every 4th of July, since I can remember, we've gone to my grandma's lake house for the weekend with cousins and aunts and uncles from my mom's side, plus a few close friends. 

This is my lovely sister, Hannah holding my adorable cousin, and Erika's brother, Jonas.

My grandma has the most beautiful lake house on the whole lake! It's so beautiful. 

Friday was the first day there. It was just my mum, my sister, and I plus Erika's family (or some of it) which consists of nine. 

Emma, decked out in her fashionable "peace sign" shirt. 

What did I tell you? The cottage on the right my grandma owns too...we all keep our luggage in there so we don't fill grandma's little house like a tuna can. 

My summery attire for the first day...my sister said I looked as if I was going to a tennis match. I fancy myself thinking it was a 50's tennis match as opposed to the Nike, sports-like mod tennis match.

And, of course, Erika and I kicked off the weekend with a quick photo shoot. :) 

I brought Goblet of Fire along with me (of course!) to read. 

Erika, Emma, and I went into the cottage and saw how Zeke had made up his bed...it was too cute!

The adorable cottage.

Mine and Emma's shadows. Taken after the first official swim in the lake of the season!

Isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?!

Erika and I grabbed our cameras quick as a flash to get pictures of the geese! Then, her, Emma, and I went on a paddle boat ride and rode along with them. 

Erika, Zeke, and I! These two are the coolest kids. 

Our scrumptious supper! It was my first time having asparagus and I loved it!

Out on the speed boat for an after supper swim. :) Which are my very favourite...swimming in the evening is the best. 

Erika and I! 

Then, Emma, myself, Erika, and Zeke rode the tube on the way home. Since you can't go fast after 4 in the afternoon we had to go really slow...but let me tell you it was a hard and hilarious ride having four people crammed on a two-person tube!

It was brilliant. :) And my mum was sweet enough to take pictures.

The tiki torches lit to keep the mosquitoes away, we all hung out around the campfire, 

sat on the gazebo reading,

watched the last bit of the sunset,

listened to some music, and had lovely night! My brother Aaron, his girlfriend Kara, and my sister Hannah got back from a show that night and brought our friends Zac and Morgan with them, Aaron went back home to bring Kara back to her house and the rest of us kids stayed up till 3:30 watching good 'ol Food Network. :) 

The next day was SO busy on the lake since it was Saturday, AND 4th of July weekend! A bunch of our friends came and we had such a fun day. 

We swam, tubed for a couple of hours, had a classic summer supper of all things grilled, and all of us kids went to see my brother's band play a show. 

The next day was the 4th and we had a lovely time! :) 

We swam throughout the day...

My dad and Zeke took a paddle boat ride...

My uncles and little boy cousins fished...

Emma and I (boat on the right) went on a paddle boat ride and ran into my mum and dad taking Zeke on a canoe ride...

There was a fabulous sunset....

Zeke caught a fish...

And, as evening drew on we all came outside and began to set up chairs and make ourselves comfortable for the night ahead... :)

My sister Hannah, and my two cousins Ian and Emma. :) Gotta love them!

And there were of course the beautiful fireworks once it got dark!

I love how no matter how old you are you still love fireworks. Emma, Erika, and I sat on the pier and admired the sparkling wonder as the neighbor's set them off. :) 

It was a wonderful 4th of July weekend! What did you all do??

Enjoy the rest of your weekend my loves. 

With love,

Rachel xx

Welcome to my Summer

Hello my lovelies. I have had a fabulous summer so far! We went to Florida for a week back in May, which was spectacular. I've seen many wonderful sunsets and had many a walk in my forest, and the fireflies have come out making my beautiful yard a magically enchanting place to be in the evening.

I've been reading Harry Potter this Summer as well. I've read the whole series once, and that was last year which was wonderful! I've always loved the films but then one weekend last April (2009) Erika and I decided it was time to read them...and golly day did something start! We are huge fans of Harry Potter...it's brilliant. :)

My sister, Hannah graduated and we had a huge party on a Friday evening in June. About 150 people came altogether, and some stayed until 2 in the morning! It was fantastic.

We've been going to my grandma's lake house, which makes for excellent pictures. :)

Erika and I, plus a bunch of our friends, went to see Toy Story 3 at midnight, the movie was amazing if you're wondering. It was a super fun night! Erika and I CANNOT wait to be at that same theatre on November 19th to see Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 at midnight. :) If you like Harry Potter, do watch this amazing trailer! AHH!

Yeah, please do note why I LOVE my family's property. <3 

Now working on Goblet of Fire for my second time...it's just as fantastic as I remembered!

Oh, and this Summer I am loving reading in my woods and anywhere out in my yard. 

Also, my mum's clematis is flourishing wonderfully! 

As are the daisies!

Oh, and I have been wearing these great sailourish shoes all Summer. :)

And, after a few rains the Queen Anne's Lace have sprouted in our fields. 

And last Monday was a practically perfect day. 

Why you might ask? The weather was wonderful with perfectly blue skies and just enough clouds, oh, and not to mention it was actually pretty cool outside with a wonderful breeze!

So nice, in fact, that I walked for about two hours barefoot in my woods!

It was quite a wonderful day, you'll have to forgive my overload on pictures from it...but I had to share them! Earlier on in the day I asked my sister Hannah to invite our friend Morgan over to watch a Harry Potter film with us (I had decided since it was Summer we needed to watch one!) and so throughout the day he wasn't sure if he could come because his parents were at work but finally at about 5:30 or so he said he couldn't come and it was quite a bummer...Hannah asks him (this is all through texting) if he could come the next day and he replies with, "JUST KIDDING! I can come!" 

It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise, Morgan stayed the night and we chose Half-Blood Prince to watch out of the Harry Potter films. :) Oh, and yeah, did I mention? That same day the new Deathly Hallows trailer was released at 7:00 PM!!!!!! I put the link to the trailer earlier in the post. :) 

A couple amazing pictures from the trailer. Yeah, I am SO excited!

And also, yesterday afternoon my mum and I went antiquing and I bought this fabulous hat! I am so excited to wear it the rest of this Summer. Don't you just LOVE vintage clothing? It was only ten bucks! What do you think?

And, on a different note, I am wanting to buy these shoes from Forever 21. They're $30.00 which is a pretty good deal! What do you think? I think they're super cute and look really British...which I love! And they would look exceptionally cute with grey pleated shorts, and cream lace tights, yes?

Hope you enjoyed this little post! Sorry it was a bit long...but there were too many spectacular pictures I couldn't leave out. Thanks to our fabulous new followers AND for the wonderful comments! They make mine and Erika's day. <3 Here is a song that I have been really loving lately, do listen to it! It's called Love Like Woe by the Ready Set!  

Off to water the garden. Enjoy the day!

With love,

Rachel xx

A quick note and then off to Grandma's House...

It has been extremely nice out lately.  So I have spent most of my time lying under a huge oak tree reading.  It is so calming and relaxing.  Have you lovelies been reading anything good lately?  

The other day I made lemon poppy seed muffins, but I had no muffin liners left!  My mom suddenly remembered something she had recently read, you can cut parchment paper into squares and line the muffin tin with those.  I decided to give it a go, and to my great surprise it worked like a charm!  

I loved the way they turned out. I shall have to make muffins this way more often.

Off to Grandma's wonderful lake house for the weekend with cousin Rachel and other extended family and friends... :)
Have a great 4th of July weekend filled with sweet summer memories! Cheers!
-Erika=]