Celebrate with Fireworks!

The Fourth of July has always been one of our favorite holidays! With things like fireworks, cookouts, warm weather, and family hangouts, how could it not be? This past summer was full of all of these things! We took a trip up to the Idaho panhandle and visited Silverwood theme park with the Miller family, and later had an Independence Day extravaganza at the elder Miller kid compound! Here are the pics of how it all went down...

The roller coaster riders!

Arseny is just excited to be here...

It's a boy! Not Morgan, but the child his wife is carrying... the big gender reveal was a success!

Grandpa Jim was the first in the food line...

Still just excited to be here...

Light 'em up!

Baseball and Big Chickens

Just a few other highlights from early summer... Nolan played a lot of baseball, maybe too much baseball. He finished off the regular season and then joined the allstar team for a lot of practice and a few tournaments. It was a hot summer on the diamond, but he had a good time and played hard! 

Got a new bat...

Even Gunner cheered on the baseball kid...

In other news, Paul turned 16 and got his driver's license.

And Adam and Drax did Adam and Drax things...

Also, the boys got out and helped sell old stuff at the local garage sale!

Just a couple of big chickens...

A bridge over the creek...

When everyone was visiting, we took a little bumpy drive-up Rock Creek to a swinging bridge in the woods. The hike wasn't very long because the trail was pretty overgrown with trees fallen across the path, but we did get to hang out by the water, have a picnic lunch, and a few of us scaled the rocky mountain for a view from the top!

Enjoying a picnic lunch in the back of a truck in the woods...

Climbing the rocky mountain...

Reached the summit!