4th of July 2015

And our 4th of July celebrations started out with sparklers on Wednesday, July 1st! 

**And I just have to say, it's still July 2015 and this post is actually going to be categorized in July 2015... I know, don't fall over ;)))

Not great pics, I took with my phone

Organized chaos... but we've learned a few things over the years like using a torch to light them so you don't burn the tips of your fingers off...

And you have to stand in a line! :) works great

On Thursday, July 2nd, that evening the Winthrop girls (Kreighton & Laynee) had their last softball game in Manchester, so we drove in to watch. Lindsay picked up the camera and snapped these :)

LeaAnn was busy drawing these sweet pics for me :)

And that night we let off the 2 lanterns that we had... and I for the life of me can not find those pictures! I know I took some?? Oh well...

And on Friday, the Brady's came home with us to feed and walk the pigs... and dress up ;)

We ate lunch at the house, and came back to the campground to go canoe/kayak down the Maquoketa River. We started at Fareway and floated to Bailey's campground.

And tubing :)

Thanks to Maggie & Fred who organized it all...

Turned out to be a gorgeous day, river was a little quick, but everyone had a fabulous time.

Chris called himself the 'school bus' :) as he was carting Lydia, LeaAnn & Whitney down the river :)

My train consisted of Lauren & Laynee

Look at all these kids!

13 kids + 1 baby on-the-way (Shannon :) + 10 adults, and we all made it!

A great picture of Chris and his school bus ;)))

The big girls ended up taking turns paddling their own kayak and did a great job!

Made us want to go again with just the big kids and we would all have our own.

That night, the game Sorry and a movie

Good morning 4th of July! A definite favorite holiday of mine... we had a grand breakfast

And did not make it out in time for the Troy parade... I don't think we'll make that same mistake twice :) but headed up to Aurora to watch theirs.

Saw Lola & Dean briefly :)

And then we spent the day there as well! Headed to the tractor pull first... we watched Ryan Miller pull his dad's tractor for the first time :)

With the Kress' and Gericke's - lucky they had a place in the shade!

Then we headed up to the park to enjoy the kid rides and activities for a while

Plinko :)

An awesome balloon man

Then headed back to the tractor pull to sit with Craig & Kris in their front row seats with a tent for shade! :D

And then we drove back to Bailey's, hung out for a while, and then drove to Petersburg for fireworks :) Not quite as good of a show as the year before, but still glad we went...

Perfect ending to a great day/weekend!