July 4th Weekend Wrap=up

We had a busy weekend with family up for the holiday. We were able to see a wonderful fireworks display at a festival held in a town close by. It is nestled in the middle of nowhere but you would have never known it with all the hundreds of people who were there. It was well worth it. They had bands that played and we were able to hear some of the last band that played as we did not arrive until right before dark. We enjoyed listening to the music as we waiting for the fireworks. The fireworks display was a LONG one and a great one. The kids were very happy with it and so were all us adults. I saw some friends and enjoyed myself immensely. The only thing missing to make it a great night was my hubby. Here are some of the pictures from that fun festival.

Above you can see my children with their cousins and uncle sitting down waiting for the fireworks to start. The kids all made t-shirts to celebrate the occasion and wore them to show their holiday spirit.

Above you can see my 3yr old making crazy faces with her light up bracelets. She is a mess as you all well know. A lovely cuddly crazy little mess. :)



The next day my sister and I took our oldest boys along for a 5 mile round trip hike up to a flat top tower at our favorite hiking place. It was a beautiful day and the breeze was perfect in keeping us cooled off during our hike. It was well worth the hike and I look forward to doing it again very soon! The scenery was beautiful and breathtaking! It was such a peaceful place and we enjoyed it very much. Here are some photos from our hike.


Here is a picture of some of the wildflowers we saw growing along the way. There were many different kinds of flowers but these were my favorites.


Here we are looking out over the beautiful countryside at one of the many wonderful viewing areas we found along the way. My son is trying to look like a pioneer checking out the landscape. :)


This is the tower that is situated on top of the mountain. I don't know what I was thinking taking this hike as I am afraid of heights, but I braved it and climbed all the way to the top and immediately sat down as I was a bit dizzy upon looking out at the view. It was well worth it though and I would do it all again.


Here is one of the views. I was sitting down for the picture as I did not trust my legs to stand up nor did I want to release both hands from the rails I was holding in a death grip so instead I took this one handed picture.




I finally did get the nerve to stand up and I took this picture of the other view from the tower. As I said before, it was worth the hike and climb up the tower and I look forward to doing it again.


On the way back down the boys stopped to take a break and enjoy the view. This was the only sitting they did the whole hike and I can assure you that they slept very good that night as they camped out in their tent in the lawn. I could hear them snoring from my bedroom window. :)


This is my sister's oldest son, my sister, and my son posing for a picture in the field on our hike.



We also spent time down at the river of course. How else do you cool off on such hot days? The kids all had a tube and enjoyed floating along down the river. At the end of our swim time I took some pictures of the kids being silly. Here is one of my 7yr old after she collected the tubes. She looked like the Michelin Man!


Here she is again minus some of her tubes, but wearing her swim goggles. One of my sisters twins decided to paint his face with some soot from a leftover campfire and this is the result. I like to call this picture "alien girl meets warrior boy".



Well I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed July 4th weekend!