4th of July

This year we had a good fourth! I was pleasantly surprised, very laid back, and great company!
Our town does things a little different for the fourth, they celebrate all week long. On the 2nd, was the parade, which was in the evening which was awesome in my opinion. We ate dinner and then headed over. It was 75 degrees, we were completely shaded, it wasn't crowded, we had very close parking and no traffic jam on the way home. No pictures for that one. There was a carnival all week long. The girls and I went one night for a girls night. After I bought a couple of tickets to ride ($4 they each got a lame ride!!) a guy called my over and gave me some complementary tickets (he had connections). He said he felt bad that my kids were little and that I had to buy tickets for myself so they could ride. He gave us 7 free rides!

Adalie loved the slide

Hallie, they wouldn't let her ride again since her arm was broken....

Nate was "sleeping" and the girls managed to put tattoos on him without waking him up

Just coloring some Scooby Doo and Strawberry Shortcake



On the 4th we went over to some friends house and swam in their pool and had a BBQ with several other families

 

 

Sweet Reid

On the 5th Nate took the girls on a morning one mile run.

That afternoon we went to Mohican State Park. It was such a good time. Everyone was happy for most of the trip which is rare in our case!

Reid loved the dirt, but only for about 10 minutes

Then he found the water

He was about ready to go at this point



Poor Hallie and her cast.....

Trying to stay warm



After the lake we moved on to a hike. Such a beautiful view. We originally planned to do a short family 3/4 mile hike that was supposed to be easy. When we pulled up we immediately saw the hike to the falls. It was so pretty so we decided to just go with it and turn around when the kids complained. (remember they already went a mile with Nate that morning and spent almost an hour at the beach/lake) We stared, never looking at a map, we walked to the first fall, which was 1 mile there. Then we kept going to the next fall about a half mile. Then on our way back there was a loop and it was steep and muddy. To our SHOCKING surprise our girls NEVER complained!! They never asked to be held!!! Reid was on Nate's shoulders the entire time, so he was happy! In the last 100 yards of the 2 mile hike, Hallie finally asked to be held, She saw the car around the corner and was thrilled!

The first fall from the top

On our way to the second fall, we walked down tons of stairs to get there, then had to walk up a MUDDY STEEP hill to get back!

Break time

Finally, after seeing only 3 other families on this hike we got a decent picture of all of us.

On the 6th our friends the Cramers came by for a visit on their way home from an east coast vacation. Hallie and Hannah were bff's from Norte Dame. They had so much fun together and were so glad to see each other!

The girls before bed

Russ, Heather, Nate and me

Our town actually did the fireworks on the 6th so we all watched the fireworks outside of our house that night. It was a pretty good show!