Fourth of July

We went for a family bike ride on the Springwater Trail the morning of the 4th.  I chuckled a little as I wrote that because it was much more involved than I made it sound. We had to get all the bikes down, put the bike rack on the van, load the bikes onto the rack, pack some snacks, fill the water bottles...and in the midst of all this prep, Aubrey fell in the neighbor's prickly rose bush while riding her bike on the sidewalk. She was a scratched and bleeding mess, crying and tired from their late night of backyard camping and in no shape to get on her little bike and ride for miles. She ended up on the trail-a-bike behind me, and Grant rode in the bike trailer behind Greg. We finally got everyone and everything loaded up and drove to the Boring trailhead a few miles away, and it was so worth the effort. It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful ride. We rode three miles before turning around, and it was a good thing we turned back when we did, even though the kids didn't want to. It was an uphill ride back, and the kids were wiped out by the time we made it back to our car. Now that we've done it once, going again will be easier. I see more family bike rides in our future!

 

After our ride, we came home for a quick lunch and then went over to the pool for an afternoon swim before our barbeque that evening. The Wilson's, once again, put on a great Fourth of July party. Mom sponsored our fireworks again this year, and she and Dad and Aunt Brenda and Uncle Dennis, who were visiting at the time, came to watch the little fireworks show. :) (We have photos, thanks to Amy W. She's so good about bringing her camera to events and sharing the photos she takes!)

 



Grant was cracking us up with the sparklers. He really wasn't so sure about them. The dads are in charge of the fireworks stuff, and there was a team of them helping the kids with sparklers. One dad would hand Grant a sparkler, and another dad would come by and light it for him. Grant would hold it for a bit and then throw it on the ground before it was done. He didn't look like he was enjoying it at all, but he stood there anyway, and dads kept coming by with more. He accepted them but did the same thing, throwing it on the ground with a frown.  Then someone would come along, seeing him empty-handed and give him another one. It was so funny. It was as if he was thinking, "I don't really like this, but I guess I'll keep doing it because they think it's fun." Eventually, on his fourth or fifth sparkler, he decided it really was fun after all.

Our neighborhood was hopping when we came home later that night. We were ready for bed, but everyone else was just getting started. We watched the show of illegal fireworks all over the neighborhood from our upstairs windows before turning on some fans and heading to bed.