Fun-Tastic Fourth

We LOVE the Fourth of July.  What a great reason to take a couple of days off from the real world to hold our family tight, celebrate our freedom, and fill our week with food, family, and fun!

We of course, chose to head to Island Park to enjoy some cabin time.  It is so hard having that cabin sitting there begging to be used and struggling so hard to find the time to get there.  This time around though we had an extended stay since all the kids sports let off for the Fourth of July week and we had the most amazing time to stay and really enjoy our time there.

We had one full day of family boating:

These little three amigos were hard to get off the water.

But we did eventually get them kicked off, because this brave little Bronson decided that he is old enough to tube now... (so long as dad takes it slow and easy and mom sits right next to him).

He thought tubing was pretty darn great.

While we were tubing, we saw this sight that took all of our breath away.  A mama moose with her calf wandered down to the water for a drink and a swim.  It was amazing to watch! 

We sat mesmerized for a long time.

The morning of the actual 4th our cousins came around for an early morning fishing trip. 

And again, Bronson insisted that he was grown up enough now that he wasn't going to miss out on the fishing fun this year.  He got up at 5:30 a.m. bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for adventure.

And fortunately he was rewarded for his ambition by a great day of fishing.  The boys caught 9 all together!  I don't know what it is about the 4th, but that is the one day of the year they magically bite.

These buddies are becoming quite the crew of fishermen.  They even gutted them all by themselves (though mutilated might be a better word).

And this die hard fisherman wanted so much for his birthday the following week to catch a giant fish that he could have mounted to put on the wall of his bedroom.  Sadly, none of the fish weighed much more than 1 lb., nice fish, but not really mountable (but happily for mom and dad because we didn't have to tell him that we weren't going to pay several hundred dollars to mount a fish).

This little lady liked petting the fishies.

Meanwhile, the girls had fun making some patriotic t-shirts for the special day. 

We also enjoyed some good cabin and cousin time snuggling up and reading stories.

Playing basketball... 

Look at my Zachy Boy jump.  Oh yeah, he's still got it!

And enjoying the antics of our little bug. 

She is pretty much one of the best things ever.

We had to save our fireworks for home so that we didn't burn the forest down.

Sparklers are always the traditional favorite! 

Whitlee thought they were pretty great.  She absolutely LOVED them. 

And we spent half the night doing one of our all time favorite things to do with fireworks.  Paint pictures with mom's cool camera... (This year I was too lazy to go fetch the tripod, so the pictures are a little more blurry than they should be). 

Love this family of mine, as well as all of our extended family, living in a beautiful area where we enjoy so many wonderful freedoms, including the blessing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in our life, which brings us so much happiness.  We are so blessed.