Small Town Celebration

We celebrated the 4th of July with Grandma and Grandpa and the Seal cousins in Midway. It was so fun to enjoy all of the festivities in Midway and Heber. What a great small town atmosphere, from the community pancake breakfast, to the carnival at the park, the spectacular fireworks...it was everything the 4th should be! Here are a smattering of pictures from our fun-filled weekend.

Daddy teaching the next fisherman in the family. Like his brothers before him, Ben quickly lost interest in the pole when he discovered the delightful splash of throwing rocks in the water instead.

 James is our dedicated angler. He was determined to catch something...and lo and behold...he was the first to bring one in. Art spent the next hour baiting poles and reeling fish in as fast as he could.

The boys proudly display their haul. Look at those eight beauties! (And my three cuties) Art dutifully cleaned them all and then treated us to a fabulous fish-fry that evening. Yummy!!

 The town of Heber sponsered a fun afternoon in the park, complete with games, a dunking booth, watermelon eating, and music. Face painting was a big hit with the kids. James's sense of fashion dictated that his face must match his shirt. A flaming electric guitar...does it get any cooler than that??

The kids show off their balloons and funny faces. I think Grandma is possibly the biggest kid of them all!

 I can't believe I'm posting this pictures. It will be used as proof against me that I broke my own cardinal rule and let my kids ride a motorcycle...without helmets no less! In my defense, clearly the bike has training wheels and we are on a HUGE wide-open patch of grass. And yet look at the expression on our faces. Who is more nervous, James or me? Apparently we both had good reason to be. Just moments after this photo, James clipped the corner of the one and only tree in the entire vicinity, tipped the bike over, and ran over his foot. Luckily the only injury sustained was some wounded pride.

Despite the earlier mishap, Daniel was not at all hesitant to take his turn. His ride was far less eventful and produced big grins from our little daredevil.

 What would the 4th be with lots of boxes of Snaps to pop?

This picture speaks volumes about James's feeling about fireworks. I think he got his aversion to the loud noise from his mother. But at least this year he actually stuck it out for the whole show and enjoyed himself despite the noise. We had a great view from the comfort of my cousin Ryan's beautiful yard.

Sadly, our jam-packed extravaganza weekend had to come to a close. Our troop was exhausted from all the fun. We headed home...but not without taking some patriotic souveniers (who knew that drool was such a good adhesive??) to remind us of good times!