Fourth of July

For the third? year in a row we spent the Fourth of July holiday at the cabin. It's become our family's tradition and it's a fun one. We have some regular activities and added a new one this year.

We always make it to the Duck Creek Firefighter's breakfast. The kids love riding the fire truck. We always run into the Earls on the way in or out. This year they had Julie's family with them and that was a delightful first.

Next up, a trip to the fishing pond. Papa made friends with the guy who owns land and turned it into a fishing site. It is super kid friendly and they always catch something. Two fish each this time. The cockatiel, Pete, missed Kyle.


Tripp taught a Danish boy how to gut and clean fish. No small feat as he didn't speak English. He was pretty cute though and really excited to watch and learn from Tripp.
Papa took Abbie and Nate to feed the horses (a favorite) after lunch and they ended up taking a short ride. Daisy needed to get in on that action and she road with Abbie for awhile. I never thought the girls would be that receptive to actually riding the horses (especially Abbie) but they loved it.
Then, dinner came and it was time to decorate the cabin car for the parade. Tripp and Sam helped the kids make Duct Tape headbands (in the spirit of Kyle...man we missed him).
The first year the kids (or was it just Lindsay and Abbie?) rode on a large float in the parade. Last year we entered the cabin car with Grandma, Papa the little kids in the back and Kyle leading the parade in his Scout uniform. This year we decorated the cabin car again and Lindsay added hats to drivers. You have to understand this parade...we see chicken costumes, dogs with hats, our family...not too sophisticated. But we've grown to love it.



Ryan loved eating the candy everyone was hurling at his cute body. He is darling but wouldn't give me a kiss the entire weekend...one sad Aunt Ali. Today he saw a picture of me and said my name so all is forgiven.
Sunday we went to "Cabin Church". Sam and Tripp both forgot their church clothes but luckily, no one there cares. Some guy showed up once with safety pins keeping his jeans together. It's something.

After church and lunch, and a good long rest, Wes, Linds and Sam took the kids on a "Hike" while Tripp and I worked on finishing up dinner. I guess the kids were using their pretend binoculars.
Bright and early Monday morning Dad, Sam & Wes went fishing. Around 10:30 the rest of us met them at the dock to join in. Another successful day. Nate caught one, Sam caught one and Abbie caught one. The rest of us just had fun.







That afternoon we took an official horseback ride. Abbie and I tried to fit on one horse but it didn't work. Luckily, she had no reservations at all about riding by herself. I got to ride "Reno" which I thought was pretty appropriate.
That evening Tripp taught the kids how to roast the perfect mallow. I love how two of them are wearing their fire safety hats while roasting over an open pit of flames.

And that's it, in a nutshell. We had over 500 photos on our camera alone...then Lindsay dropped hers off this morning. So I just picked some to post. They may not be the best of the bunch but I've got to get them up and move on. We are on the fast track now and summer is flying by at record speeds.