Scavenger hunt and Camping trip

I created a list of items for the boys to scavenge around for and told them to take pictures of each thing with their camera. It kept them busy for about an hour! As an added challenge, I wrote words on the long list WITHOUT drawings so that they had to read everything! Items included each of our names, and then things like mat, bat, and cat. They could not find a bee, so they drew a picture of one and then took a picture of it, LOL. When they were finished, I gave them a little prize from the dollar store. 

We went on a big camping adventure in Albert Lea to a very private site at Myre-Big Island State Park. Jeremy planned the whole thing, and it was really fun. You have to hike or ride your bike into the camp, so we rode our bikes. Also, we stayed for two nights instead of just one, which was a big deal for us!! 

To warm up for the ride, Dallin got a piggy back on me! Then he rode in the bike trailor with Jeremy pulling him.

We rode about a mile through all types of trails... Tanner needed lots of encouragement. It was a tricky mile.

Jeremy took several trips back and forth from the car to get all our camping gear to our site. the boys liked chasing him each time he came up the path to our camp.

We got everything there in time for the fireflies to come out! There were lots and lots of them. Watching the fireflies made the whole camping trip worth it.

Oh yeah, we played with sparklers, too. I almost forgot about that!

We liked being away from other campers and having lots of forest around us!

In the afternoon we picked up a canoe from one end of the park and rowed across teh lake right up to our campsite. We ate lunch, did some fishing with no luck and then rowed the canoe back.

Tanner and Jeremy made a ramp for his bike out of fire wood. Dallin and I took a nap.

View of the lake from camp.

The view was mostly covered with foliage, but it was still pretty.

Dallin loved roasting things over the fire. We also cooked food in our cast iron skillet right over the open flame!

The boys were sad to pack everything up on the third day.

I wore my special fabric piece from Thailand to help keep the bugs out of my hair! (It's actually from a Karen village in Thailand, which is cool because we have a growing population of Karen people in our town).

The ride out was a lot harder than the ride in! Jeremy and I were really tired at the end of the adventure. We might not be cut out for another 2-night family trip anytime soon, but it was definitely family time well spent!

Stars & Stripes and All Things Nice

We had a really fun 4th of July, staying home and keeping things simple this year! I love this holiday.

After Tanner's birthday and after the grandparents left, Tanner started exploring some of his gifts. This is a cool circuit board builder set.

I got a good shot of Jeremy's beard while he helped Tanner with his circuit experiments. He has gone 9 months with it, and I really like it.

One of our Air B&B guests had a motorcycle and let Tanner sit on it!

This was taken the week of 4th of July, right after eating the free school lunch in town. The boys love climbing on this wall after they eat.

We did some decorating and made festive snacks for Independence Day. And read lots of patriotic books. Cutting out watermellow and making kabobs was a highlight.

Our small town does two nights of fireworks with our local Concert Band and Symphony. This was our first year going to both shows. For the show on July 3, we rode our bikes there (Tanner on his own bike, Dallin in the trailor), we found friends to sit near, and enjoyed the music and show! The boys danced and marched to all the patriotic music in our small area, and drew a crowd of their own. 

This was Dallin's first time really enjoying fireworks. Last year, we were in DC, and got rained out, and the years before that, he was too afraid to look up and watch. We had sound canceling headphones for him, which he used during the band playing, but I think he ended up taking them off for the show. And he LOVED the fireworks!! Both boys commented a lot on the fireworks as they kept popping up. So fun to be enjoying that with them. Seriously, fireworks never get old!

View of the bandshell.

The next morning we slept in. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of homemade Crepes with berries. Then we headed to the parade on our bikes.

This was actually our first time at our town's parade, and it was really fun. My favorite part is that it was wonderfully hot- just the way it should be!

I didn't watch the parade as much as I watched the boys reactions.

We had friends in almost every group that came by in the parade!

There goes Riley on the Mason float. And here comes the dragon with some friends from Taikwondo.

And Oballa, Kristi, Karem and Paulina in the world of nations group!

And Tanner's buddy in the Pizza Ranch car!

Our 4th of July lunch was also yummy. No parties this year, just the four of us. (Tanner's birthday party wore us out, haha).

Deviled eggs

American Taco Salad

Fruit Pizza, my favorite!!

Tanner helped decorate the pizza!

That night on July 4, we drove to the fireworks and set up "camp" in the same spot as the night before, about 20 minutes before the show began. The forecast was rain, and when the wind picked up we weren't sure if the show would happen. Luckily, a few fireworks lit up the sky! The show was happening and all was well. A few minutes later, Jeremy was feeling drops on his arms and said "Uh oh, I think it's raining." He gestured to his arm, and I noticed a bunch of dark spots against his white arm. "Umm, that's not rain," I said. "That's ashes!!" The wind was carrying the fireworks right over us! Well, really, ON us. I'm not exaggerating, they were falling and still burning right before touching the ground around us. It was a super cool show, but also kind of freaky. When it ended, we shined the flashlight on our blanket and discovered it was covered in ash speckles. People were picking up firework shells all over the place, as big as coconut halves. When I got home, I found a hole burned into my sleeve. Luckily we didn't get hurt, and we didn't hear of anyone else getting hurt. My favorite part about this whole thing was watching the weeping willow fireworks that cascade and shimmer down for a long time. With the wind, it made it cascade and shimmer right into us, and if felt like we were in a 4D version of Star Wars!!

It was one of the best Independence Days we've had!!