The Fourth of July!

I know we are all still recovering from Maren's many birthday parties, but I thought I'd take a minute to blog the 4th of July. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Elias and Ethan are ready for fireworks.


BUT FIRST... Uncle Phillip demonstrates the best way to shuck corn.


The corn shuckers!




Uncle Phillip has many talents... like doing this.


The kids got a brief respite from their chores.


But then it was back to hard labor... putting the leaf in the table.


Meanwhile, Phillip and Derek figure out the best rig for the home-made corn dogs.


A binder clip will work just fine!


Dunk!






Believe it or not, this was Deacon's first ever hot dog!


NO PICTURES


Cousins, after a swim.


And now... enjoy Derek's creative fireworks pics.


Maren


Derek - a self-portrait! This involved securing the camera, turning on the timer, lighting two sparklers and standing perfectly still.


The trail of a flying firework


Deacon


Elias


Derek


We had a great time with Jana and Phillip and Elias and Ethan. Thanks, guys!

Onward: we leave TODAY for Arizona. We're about to explore the wild west! Will be blogging and tweeting along the way. Happy trails!