Firecracker 4th

A Firecracker of a 4th of July

We had an absolutely fantastic 4th of July holiday. In our usual fashion we crammed it full of all kinds of fun, food, and family.We headed out to the lake early the morning of the 4th. My mom, Ken, Stacey and her family, and Kelley and her family, and my Grandma were already there. We wanted to make sure that we were there in time for the boat parade. This year was the 100th anniversary of the boat parade on our lake. Exciting stuff. Unfortunately the night before the 4th the boat broke down and we just had to enjoy it from the dock. Still...it was a lot of fun to join in all the revelry.

The kids humored me to take about a million 4th of July pics in all their festive frippery and waving flags. I just love all that stuff. They are good kids!!

Seriously... how cute are patriotic kids? We firmly believe in teaching our kids to be patriotic, to love this amazing country of ours, and to always be filled with gratitude to be an American.

Turnabout it fair play...according to Reilly...who then took about a hundred pictures of us telling us constantly to "try to look normal". Apparently that is pretty hard for the two of us. ;)

Not even Granny was spared!! I tried to get her to sing Yankee Doodle Dandy. She wasn't having any of that...but she sure loves the 4th of July!!

Reilly was out of commission due to her freak scooter accident. She had nasty wounds that required immobilization and antibiotics. No swimming for her for awhile. Seriously, do we need to wrap our kids in bubble wrap? They are walking disasters.

Who doesn't love giant sparklers?

Well...this girl does NOT!! She stayed very close to her daddy.

Then it was onto the more exciting fireworks... two daddies were in hog heaven.

As usual, our lake put on a terrific show. Everyone was out until late, bundled up, and enjoying the night...Granny too. She was talking mile a minute about how her dad used to sell fireworks (he owned a resort on our lake) and all the fireworks that he didn't sell he would set off for his three squealing daughters. She said that he always would tuck away a few of his girls very favorite fireworks so that he wouldn't sell out of them. Granny was loving all the booming and the huge echos coming off the cliffs. After she had been out until late, Kelley asked her if she was ready for bed and she said "absolutely not!" She said that she "wasn't sleepy at all." She had a huge grin on her face the whole night.

 Brynnie loved them too!! No bedtime for her...it's late and she is still waving her flag.

 My two little hoot owls!!

The next day was spent enjoying the water and the gorgeous weather. Kelley had brought out Elle's older sister, Kendell. She and Ailey always have a great time together.

River, Bryn, Elle, Kendell, Ailey

They played a lot of school over in Lilac Lodge and were great helpers keeping their little sisters in check and in life jackets!!

There was a ton of fishing going on. We have a bunch of pictures of my brother, Kirk, fishing at this age and it just seems like yesterday. Now he is a grown man and a father and MY SON is that age. 12 year old boys are just delightful!!

Fisher-woman Ailey

 

Even Brynnie was totally into it this year!!

 She even caught her first fish!!

Bryn and Elle

We even squeezed in a few naps here and there. These two are terrific nappers. They can sack out anywhere and even better...they will come and tell us when they are tired and ASK if they can take a nap. Why yes you can!!

That gave me time to actually relax and enjoy lounging the sun and luxuriating in the water. The water temps were perfection. There are some perks to kids growing up!!

Then we packed up and headed to my mom's house in Sandpoint and left for Montana and Flathead Lake the next day. Wow. What a beautiful area!! I have been there before as a child. It is gorgeous and the drive from Sandpoint to there was breathtaking.

We left early with my Mom and Ken and stopped for a delicious breakfast in Thompson Falls. Then it was onto Flathead Lake. We were going to visit friends who were participating in a big vintage show up there called The Vintage Whites Market (that was our vintage show that we did in SLC). We wanted to check it out and see Jana and Vanessa (the promoters) as well as other vendor friends. It was great to see everyone and to reconnect. Then it was time to explore and play.


If you are going to be in Montana you might as well ride a horse...

Cowgirl Bryn...boy would her Great-Grandpa McKinnon be proud!!

Cowgirl Ailey

We wandered around Bigfork and Tyler and I quickly decided that this would be a great place to come for a little summer romantic getaway...Whitefish too. We loved both places. We would like to take the kids on a vacation to Glacier and up into Canada in the next year or two. I remember being blown away by Glacier National Park and I was a canyon kid. So that's saying something.

Then it was time for ice cream...

Then we headed over to Kalispell and Whitefish... we drove up to the ski resort and all over. Then we headed back to downtown Whitefish to roam around. Such fun. We found a fabulous place to eat out on this great patio all while watching all the people come and go. We will definitely go back. It was good. Garlic Truffle Oil Fries...clutch the pearls!!

We had a great time and loved that whole area. As I said, we will be back. We got back to my mom's house super late and spent the night. We were exhausted!! Then we got up early and hit the road and got home just in time to make it to church. I guess there is one positive thing of 1pm church (but that is it!!)

All in all, it was a wonderful 4th of July holiday, we celebrated it to the max, and reveled in the beauty of this country of ours.

God Bless the USA!!