4th of July 4 Day

Oh what fun we had. Riley and shared a four day 4th of July weekend with our family and friends. It's rare that we get to spend that much time together, and we more than took advantage of it.

I have been trying to convince my parents to make a fire pit in their back yard for years. We used to have such fun gathering around the fire when we went camping many years ago, and this year, with the help of some rocks from the excavation at my lot, it was finally constructed. My dad enjoyed the fruits of his labor on 4th of July Eve; we had to test it out just to make sure it would be ready to go for the festivities the next day.


Saturday afternoon started out with a family game of Frisbee. Then it was time for picnic food galore!
My dad had smoked up a bunch of lake trout that we have caught over the last few weeks, so we had those for an appetizer along with saltines and a nice cold beer. Mmmmm... Then there were burgers and chips and potato salad and cole slaw. And of course, S'mores for dessert. Some how we forgot to carve into the watermelon and have our annual seed spitting contest, but summer's not over yet.

My brother and my dad enjoyed some beer and talk of fishing and old times...

And my niece showed her prowess for making really yummy S'mores. I think she did a better job than me, and I have a lot more experience in the field. Perhaps it was the hand whittled S'more stick that her grandpa made for her that made it extra yummy?

She will celebrate her 14th (!) birthday tomorrow, but she still enjoys being a little kid. I had bottles of bubbles, sparklers, and Cracker Jack at the ready.

We had one major Christmas decoration that was still not put away, so rather than dragging it to the back yard, we changed out some bulbs and had a red, white, and blue tree. It helped to slow down traffic going past the house a bit.

Later on I took my parents up to my lot to see if we could get a good view of our city's fireworks display, and we did, along with a few neighbors who had some pretty good ariel shows of their own. I know where everyone will be coming next year to watch.

We are blessed to have such good family and friends that make us feel so very loved.