Our family's 4th on the farm and elsewhere

Some of us took a road trip

We left home early on the 4th heading toward eastern Washington and our kids there. It was great that Krystle could arrange her work schedule to come with us.

It was a mighty quiet bunch to travel with. No "Are we there yet?", no bickering or squirming. We should have filled the empty seats with some grandkids to make it a more traditional family road trip. Harlan and I were the only ones who were awake for the entire trip.

We made one rest stop, complete with a photo of a flowering planter and a selfie :0) then we were back on the road.





Hurray! We arrived!

Three of our favorite kids were waiting there for our arrival.

While Aunty Krystle got to love up the little guy, Henry and Anabelle tried out the new ball and glove for indoor baseball fun.

Better than a photo booth ;0)

Anabelle and I have fun taking selfies on my iPhone. She is so silly.

Har got to take a rest out on the lawn.

Kiel manned the charcoal grill and Cherise made homemade scones.

We also enjoyed grilled corn on the cob and homemade potato salad.

I also proved to myself that I can still eat one handed while taking care of a baby with the other ;0)

I kept looking out at the ripe apricots waiting to be picked the next day.

We sat out on the back deck and waited for the sun to drop below the hill across the river.

It was a couple hours before it would be dark but when bedtimes are normally early, we light the fireworks before it's super dark. Henry, Anabelle and even the uncles enjoyed the sparklers.

There were a couple of screamers early on but most of the other fireworks were just fun and colorful.

It was a treat to have a couple of Roman Candles that shot up into the air. They were pretty impressive. My favorite one was this little pagoda. It started out as a flat disc and had four separate chambers that lit one after the other and spun it around 90 degrees with each flare-up. When the final one burned out the roof popped up to form the pagoda.

We enjoyed a nice variety of fireworks. Henry and Anabelle  cheered with many of them.

One little guy was getting sleepy. He actually fell asleep as Grampa held him and blocked the sounds of the fireworks.

Krystle and Henry in their super hero poses wearing super hero pajamas. Anabelle thought they were playing a game. She ran around and under their legs.

Nothing says Happy Birthday America better than starting things on fire! These red, white and blue peeps made great s'mores.

The east coast kids' celebration 

   Alyssa and Logan contributed a lovely homemade mac and cheese to the potluck gathering they went to. Very nicely decorated for the celebration of Freedom with bacon.

From all the reports and photos, it appears that everyone had a wonderful time with fireworks in the street and spiffy solo cup shields to protect from flying sparks. 

The PDX party kids

Charles and Courtney hosted the 4th of July picnic at their place this year. Courtney was so excited to have Jess, Joylynn and the kids over. 

Thanks for sending me pictures of your get together, Courts. Those kids look like they had a blast!

It was nice of Joanne to buy those glow stick swords for the kids. It was also nice that they got to stay at your house until it was dark enough to see them glow!




HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!