independence day

The 4th of July

We skipped church & drove up the McKenzie Highway to visit Carolyn's Mom's campsite. Kind of random, but we thought it might be fun to experiencing camping without sleeping in a tent with two small children. :)

Carolyn & Finn by Horse Creek

We roasted hot dogs for lunch & marshmallows for S'mores!

Finn helped Jesse keep the fire going. :)

Enjoying his S'more

Cedar liked his hot dog & graham crackers

Not too sure of the marshmallow, but I'm pretty sure he devoured that too!

Carolyn played the one song she knows on the banjo. :)

"Camping"

By the creek

We drove home so that Cedar could nap while we got dinner ready. Kenton's Uncle Nathan & Aunt Lindy were in town (on their way through, as they move to Australia) & came over with Brian for the evening.

Dinner in our backyard - shish-kabobs, salad & watermelon.
Brian, Carolyn, Katrina, Cedar, Jesse, Nathan, Lindy & Finn
(You can see the nearly completed chicken fence in the background.)

Red, White & Blueberry Shortcake Stars for dessert

Finn likes to go SUPER high in his swing!

Cedar's messy hair with no shirt, after enjoying his shortcake. :)

After dinner, we made our way to Alton Baker park to watch fireworks. Nathan & Lindy stayed behind to get some rest after traveling all night.

We had a lot of time to kill before it got dark (around 10 pm), so we started in on our fireworks while it was still a little light out.

We ended up being pretty popular with the other kids, since we had enough sparklers to share. :)

Cedar entertained himself for a LONG time...just hanging out in the backpack propped on the ground. I was shocked & very impressed that he was satisfied with watching everyone else.

Finn & Carolyn

The fireworks master - only a few, little burns to show for it. ;)

Kenton, Katrina, Carolyn & Finn

We had a few fountains, but mostly bought sparklers & ground bloom flowers. :)

No pictures of the professional fireworks show. I guess we were too busy keeping our little ones entertained for the entire show - they both enjoyed watching the big fireworks, but their attention spans are much shorter than ours. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves, this Independence Day! We had a very fun & full day!

Breakfast the next morning. ;)
The shortcake wasn't all that sugary...can't really say that for the berries & whipped cream, but who needs all the details. It was tasty & we couldn't let it go to waste, right?