July 4th

I'm 2 weeks late posting what we did over July4th to celebrate, but better late than never. We had so much fun and have many pictures to include. I probably should have done a slide show, but they don't work when you print blog books. :)

We drove up to Burley, Idaho to visit with our friends, Dallin and Liz Rushton who moved up there last year. Our friends, Mark and Kattie Fairbanks drove up there as well. We arrived Friday evening, ate dinner and let the kids play while we got caught up on every one's lives. It was hard to go to bed, but we all eventually did.
Saturday morning, we went to their 4th of July ward breakfast. We were sad to miss our own ward breakfast, but it was nice to enjoy their breakfast. After breakfast, we drove a few miles to Rupert to watch the parade. It was pretty cold up there this weekend so we had to wear jackets and use blankets.
We let the kids play at the park while we waiting for the parade to start. The kids loved the swings.
We taught Brooklyn how to do the "spider" on the swings. Now that is all she wants to do!
Marty was good to go on the slide with the girls since the stairs were too steep for Eliza. The girls loved all the time they had to play with their dad.
Here is part of us waiting for the parade to start.
It looks strange to think it was July 3rd and here Brooklyn is in a sweatshirt and blanket.
Eliza enjoyed eating all the candy they were throwing at us.
Some of the parade behind Brooklyn.
The parade was pretty long for a small town parade. My favorite part was the pimpin' low rider cars. Apparently, Rupert is a pretty dominant Hispanic town. I'm used to old cars and brand new cars, but I've never seen those types of cars before in a parade. :)
Then we went home and let some of the kids take a nap. Afterward, we went to this really cool lake. It's called Harris Lake and it's privately owned. They had a free day so we went over and let the kids play for a few hours.
The kids loved this train ride. Well, I think Eliza screamed most of the way. She loved being able to do a "big kid" thing. The whole weekend, she was following the big kids and loving every second.
Marty took the girls for a canoe ride.
Eliza loved the kiddie pool section with little slides into kiddie pools. She's our water girl!
Brooklyn loved them too, even though she really couldn't slide much since she's almost as long as the slide.
They also have rope swings and a zip line that goes across the lake.
Marty took Brooklyn across and she loved it! We also went as a family across, but I don't have any pictures. We barely made it across without getting too wet and then I jumped off too quick and left Marty dangling by his feet in the harness. We were all every entertaining on this zip line. The Fairbanks were stuck in the water at the end after we promised Kattie she wouldn't get wet. Oops. Good memories though. :)
Then as only a dad would, Marty took Eliza across. It scared me just to watch. I believe she screamed most of the way down.
Marty then took Brooklyn out to swim in the lake.
They enjoyed spinning in this tire.
Then it was home to have dinner, take baths and go to bed to get ready for Church.

Sunday morning, we enjoyed our morning and waited for 12:30 church. Luckily, Eliza wanted to go down for an early nap so we could make it through this church time.
After church and dinner, we enjoyed some time outside playing with the kids.
Eliza loved this T-ball set.
She also loved playing on all the big kid riding toys.
As it started to get dark, we pulled out some fireworks. Brooklyn loved throwing the Snaps. Then we did some pretty sad fireworks we bought the day before that almost caught us on fire a few times.
Most of the kids were afraid of the sparklers. Eliza was intrigued.
In Idaho, they did fireworks on the 4th so we went to watch the big fireworks. We had a front row seat. We have never been so close to those types of fireworks. Incredible!
Brooklyn and Alex waiting for fireworks and eating caramel popcorn.
Marty entertaining us with glow sticks.
This is what happens when it's dark outside and the flash goes off. Yikes! I should have been like Eliza and just kept eating my popcorn.
Not too bad of a picture for an non-fancy camera.
On Monday we enjoyed some time playing and relaxing before it was time to drive home. We had such a good time that it was hard to get back to every day life! Thanks everyone for a fun weekend!