July 4th

It was back to the mountains again on the 4th, a tradition that is fast becoming hard to break. This time we brought our friends Skitch and Jenny with us. No, his mother didn't name him Skitch because she loved his brother more (although that is most likely true) Kevin and I call him this because: 1) his name is Kevin also, and that's just too confusing and 2) we think he looks like the drummer in the movie That Thing You Do, who is once referred to as "Skitch".

We met these great friends at church last year and I don't really know how or why we didn't get to know each other sooner. The four of us with our kids in tow packed up and headed up for the long weekend. The weather was perfect, as usual and we spent the days lazing around, taking hikes, doing crafts with the kids and eating.

On the big day, we drove downtown to park at the lot and watch the fireworks. Last year it seemed like days before the festivities started and once they did, it was another long time before it ended. Armed with experience we packed up, filled the kids full of cookies and waited. We heard fireworks, but didn't see them anywhere and assumed it was from some other little mountain town attempting to show their stuff. Finally, curious about the noise we walked over to the other side of the parking lot where we found that the building we had been standing next to had been blocking our view of the show - now almost over. We only saw about 2 minutes of it, but the kids were thrilled just the same.

Jenny and I went on our morning walk the next day only to come back and find that both Kevin and Skitch decided to shave handlebars that morning. I don't need to tell you how proud of themselves they were...you can tell by the wink in Kevin's eyes.