Part 2 of June trip to Rhinelander

Kenny and Beth enjoy the rain...

but they really enjoy a sunny beach!
While waiting for the weekend, we had a nice picnic lunch at Buck Lake, a county park just south of Rhinelander. The afternoon was not hot (mid-70s) and somewhat breezy, but after a week of cool, rainy weather, this was quite a break...
Stephen had a lot of fun kicking his feet in the sand--a new sensation for him, I suppose. My brother Bob arrived early, and the kids and I had fun chasing baseballs...

With it being just Stephen and I right now, it seems hard to believe that this house was so action-filled this weekend. Sunday, in addition to being Father's Day, was Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, all 6 kids, spouses, grandchildren, and significant others gathered over the weekend here in Rhinelander. The following picture is from lunch on Saturday, which was chaotic (even missing a few people):

Yes, even Michael (Hurlburt, my sister Lisa's son) got into the action... We had a lot of fun taking strolls through the pines (a classic Lulu pose):

and playing a game called "blongoball" (akin to horseshoes or lawn darts):

Lovely lil' Leila looked on approvingly:

Lulu and Mark can take nice pictures, when they want to:

But the big event was the Sunday evening dinner cruise down the Wisconsin River. Here is the boat we went on:

Jon Hurlburt enjoyed getting to put his feet up and drinking a cold beer...

As did my brother John (aka Jojo) and his partner Jim Housner:

Kenny's big excitement for the boat trip was that the captain allowed him (and his cousin Emma) to steer the boat for a while, including navigating amongst some of the obstacles in the channel (no real risk here--we didn't go over 2 miles per hour).

Stephen being held by his Uncle Bob:

The prime rib dinner was pretty good, even with Jojo's posing for the camera (sitting with brother Bill, Jim Housner, and Lisa, Bob's girlfriend).

The rain started to fall shortly after we began the cruise, and we were disappointed that we couldn't be on the top deck more. Still, we saw a lot of neat things (including an eagle and her nest) and some beautiful river scenery. We traveled about 2 miles downstream to the Hat Rapids Dam, and then turned around and headed back to Rhinelander. As we approached town, the skies cleared, and a rainbow appeared:

Mom and Dad get mushy:

A classic Lulu and Mark pose:

The obligatory family photo (Lulu, what are you looking at?).

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids:

We all had a really good time on the boat ride. The biggest disappointment is that we didn't have more time to spend with each other--jobs or school called most of us away. Before she left, Lulu helped Beth give Lulu's dog Lilly a scratch:

and Kenny and his Uncle Bill goofed off...

On Monday night, we did manage to sneak off to do a little fishing. We didn't catch any fish...

which seemed to perplex lil' Stephen:

I plan to try to do one more posting on this trip, as we still have a few action-packed days left here in Rhinelander, but this may end up waiting until after I return from next week's summer dig in Arkansas...