Happy 4th of July weekend!!! I love this holiday. I love how everyone gets so patriotic! I get emotional every year watching fireworks and listening to the patriotic music. I also get very homesick during this time. My dream 4th of July is going to the strip in Grand Haven and watching the fireworks as we lay on the grass. I've been fortunate to do that many times, but I still wish it was a yearly tradition.

Here's a picture of the last time I watched the fireworks over the water in Michigan...

Chels & Bek---Grand Haven, July 2009

We do have fun plans for the long weekend, so I'm still excited even though I'm not in Michigan!

Beach Week

Next to the week of our wedding, Beach Week was one of the best weeks of my life! Where I grew up, the week after the seniors graduate (and the underclassmen are still in school...SUCKERS!) the campground of Holland State Park is transformed into paradise for the graduating class of Hudsonville High School. I have no idea when the tradition started, but I am thankful it did. For most of the seniors, it was the first time being parent-less; I know it was for me.

My friends and I started planning 1/2 way through senior year and we reserved camping spots right next to each other. Initially I was bummed because I wanted to be at the campground on the beach, but it was full. So we were stuck in the overflow lot. I was bummed until the second we pulled my friends motor home into the campground and found out it was way cooler than the spots on the beach. We had dirt & trees! Katie and I stayed in her parents 1970s motor home and we had a blast!!! Michelle & Melissa stayed in a tent in the lot next to us and Chelsea & Amanda stayed in a camper a few lots over. It was like we were all neighbors (something I never knew because I lived in the country).

The week of June 4-9, 2001 gave us girls memories that we will never forget. We still have beach week jokes and talk about how much fun it was. I can't smell a bon-fire without thinking of that awesome week. So today, and for the rest of the week, I will think back on that awesome week 10 years ago and smile :)