4th Fun

Another great Forth of July Weekend for the Louie's!  We had a blast! Saturday we spent the evening with our friends the Felkers!  They had a BBQ, Felker style (all out smoker!!) and it was yummy!!  The boys had so much fun playing together in the sprinklers with all the kids (wish I would have gotten some pictures!) and Mom and Dad had fun having some adult conversations!  We don't spend enough time hanging out with our friends!  Also, I made a yummy Flag Cheesecake for the occasion.  It's wasn't nearly as good as some of the other food (pulled pork, chocolate pie and 24-hr salad to be specific) but it was festive and I was proud of it! 

Setting up the tent

Sunday we went "Camping" . . . in the backyard!  I have been wanting to do a campout for a while, and with Jayce as touchy as he is about change I didn't want to experiment in a campground full of people, so we did a "test run" in the backyard.  And I'm glad we did!!  He was not a Happy Camper - pun intended! He only woke up twice during the night, but that's a lot for him since he usually will sleep 10 hours straight, and he was rather difficult to get back to sleep once he woke up.  But Riley LOVED IT!!  We set up the tent about 5:30 and he kept bugging us to go to bed (a first for him!)  We finally went out to hang out in the tent around 8 when it cooled down enough to stand it (temps here have been horribly high).  Then around 9 we went back in side to get ready for bed . . . I love being able to go inside to my own bathroom to brush my teeth or get a drink of water!  We will be camping in the backyard a lot more often!  Jayce feel asleep on the living room floor while we were getting ready for bed, and Riley wasn't far behind when we got in the tent.  Come to think of it . . . neither were Mommy and Daddy!  Cam had run a horribly long 20 mile trail run that morning and nearly passed out on trail from the heat.   he made it back to the trailhead and called me withing minutes of me calling my Ranger buddies to go find him!

We woke up the next morning, had cinnamon rolls and went out for a hike!  We hiked Devil's Backbone . . . the Wild Loop via the Keyhole.  Riley Loved the Keyhole, and climbing on all the rocks!  He didn't love all the other hiking as much, but he was a trooper and made it the whole way, almost 3 miles, by himself as temperatures rose to 90 degrees at 11 am.  I'm so proud of him!!!  Jayce did good too.  This was his first hike in the backpack carrier instead of the sling.  He didn't like it at first, but soon realized that he wasn't going to get out and learned to deal with it.  Other than the heat, we did great!

Riley and Daddy at the Keyhole

Riley became obsessed with Cacti during this hike!!

Later in the evening we had our own version of a bar-b-que - brats, dogs and corn-on-the-cob!!!  Yum Yum!!  We love our corn-on-the-cob in this house!! 

Then it was time for fireworks!!  We did a few in the driveway: sparklers, smoke bombs, snap pops, etc. with the Felkers, then we all took a trip to Windsor Lake to watch the big show!!  Minus a small shower just before showtime that sent us all running for the cars . . . it was a Great 4th of July!! 

Smoke bomb

Yes, that would be my husband lighting a sparkler with a blowtorch!

Greg was great at passing out the snap pops!

Jayce Liked watching the big fireworks

Riley, Lacey and Jax

I'm So Thankful to live in a Country were we can celebrate the freedoms that we have, and remember those who have given their lives to keep it that way.  God Bless America!! 

One more thing to share - both Riley and Jayce had checkups last week. Both are healthy and growing!  Riley has slowed down a bit since his 3 year checkup.  He now weighs 35 lbs and is 42 inches tall.  It's a good thing we bought that booster seat!  Jayce is growing as well!  He's still in the 1% for his weight gain at 13 lbs 15 oz., but he skyrocketed from the 45% to the 72% in his height!!!  He's now 27 inches, and the doctor doesn't seem at all concerned about his growth anymore, she said "he's just putting all his effort in to getting taller!"  That's how we Louie's grow 'em - Long and Lean!!!  Jayce loves eating baby food too.  I've been making it myself, and he eats it almost faster than I can make it!!  I spent the last couple days making a few more batches.  So we've added squash to the menu and some pomegranate pears, along with a couple more batches of the favorites sweet potatoes, apples and bananas. 

This weekend is another Jam-Packed weekend of Fun!  Cam's Birthday is Saturday and I have quite a surprise planned for him (at least I hope it's still a surprise!  He has a tendency to guess my surprises long beforehand!)  And if this heat keeps up we'll be making many more trips to the pool!  Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th, have a good week!