A 4th of Fun

Why did I think taking my three boys camping would be a good idea... because I'm CRAZY... and my motto is "I can do hard things." Sorry Chris, you missed this view of Bear Valley view...

and this dirt smudged face...

and this slobbery chin (because he got his first tooth)...

and Zach using the Force, with his new Star Wars fishing pole, to reel in a big one.

Taking turns with the poles was a challenge for these eight little friends, but an even bigger challenge was for parents: try not to get snagged as the kids perfected their casts.

Jackson never seemed to get near the water without getting totally soaked. His mother, knowing his tendencies, brought an ample supply of clothing for him.

What's the Fourth without a BBQ and homemade ice cream? This time we had Vanilla... Hutching style. Rod gave each parent an ingredient for the ice cream and sent the kids down the assembly line with a baggy. At the end, they placed their zip lock bag inside a larger one with salt and ice...

and then everyone got their groove on and shook their bags for about tne minutes.

With a little help from mom, this soft serve went perfectly with the dutch oven brownies.

We had a little bedtime snack of roasted marshmallows before putting everything into the bear proof... cars. Apparently, in the early hours the morning of our arrival a black bear was snooping around camp eating leftovers. He left one muddy paw print on the hibachi grill as his calling card. We did not want any more unauthorized visitors in our camp.

We tunneled on over to Windier-- I mean Whittier-- for some 4th of July festivities.

This small town put on a traditional...

and not so traditional parade.

But who really cares as long as they throw candy, right? ;)

Tethering Ethan to this metal buoy seemed like a good way to keep him from blowing away.

The most fun part for the boys was the whip cream throw.

It was so windy that we tried putting rocks on our plates to keep the food from blowing away. When our full cans of soda started to blow over we gave up and retreated back to our non-windy camp site. In the end the boys were having so much fun our overnighter turned into two. My boys just couldn't get enough playtime with the Kent kids. This camping trip was unique in so many ways. I missed having Chris' extra pair of hands, but mostly I just missed not being able to make these memories with him. Thank you, dear friends, for helping me with the boys and allowing us to share this holiday with you.

And Jackson, I know you were only trying to SAVE Zach from crocodiles in the river, not throw him to them.