Day 4 The 4th of July

It should be worth noting that while I certainly don’t have control over the weather, the last couple years it snowed while I was home in December and this last trip it was cloudy the day before I got in, clear for all 6 days, then cloudy once I left.



image courtesy of Wikipedia

So, that being said, July 4^th dawned early and bright! Dad headed over to the church to help cook for the pancake breakfast. Mom and I  went later and enjoyed the flag raising ceremony put on by the Boy Scout troop and then had pancakes, eggs and sausage for breakfast. We sat with my cousin and her youngest daughter who are also in Mom & Dad’s ward.

After breakfast Mom and I went for a walk around their neighborhood and Dad went to work on ‘neighbor relations’ i.e. he went to scope out the goods at the Chehalis tribe firework stands and did not leave empty handed. We load up the Jeep then head to Safeway for a killer sale on soda. Mom and I see the same man there that we had passed on our walk earlier in the day. We also stop and buy another flat of Spooner Farms strawberries. We pick up Lara on the way. Next stop Lake Margaret.

Somehow in the course of conversation we miss the turn to Highway 520 through Carnation so end up taking 522 through Woodinville instead. When what to our wondrous eyes should appear but a stretch Chevy Metro. Red and no windows in the back. It looks like a hand-sautered mini-hearse. So ugly it’s cool.



We get to the lake and soon we’re in the water. Well, most of us. This is a conglomeration of a couple siblings, their children, my SIL's family, as well as friends and their children and the missionaries showed up as well. Plus Jake and his friend Buddy. (gold and black retrievers respectively). At one point during dinner I counted 7 Moms who had kids there…oye. It was a crowd and we didn’t even have our whole family there! Our Spokane counterparts were unable to make the trip and were sorely missed throughout the weekend!





C heading to the water. She's my mini-me :)



Dinner was a crazy, messy affair but many were fed and watered and not many leftovers were well, left over. The candy bar salad was a hit. As was the potato salad and frog eye salad. There are some Dill potato chips left over from the beach and they didn’t last long.



Now to the main event: fireworks. I have a brother-in-law who was kind enough to be born on July 4^th. Since he joined the family in 2001 we have always blown something up in his honor. This year it was a cantamelon. It was set on a fence post with a mortar in it. BOOM! Happy Birthday! Bits of cantamelon fly everywhere to the cheers of the crowd. One year it was a Hostess cupcake. It left a grease mark on the pavement and a small crumb on someone’s shirt. That was it. All gone. It went boom and bye bye.



Jake decided it was time for humans to go get the stick! I took my turn as well but didn't go all out like L did.



  Acornucopia of lawn chairs and blankets cover the driveway as the Dad’s light off the fireworks. The nice thing about being by the lake is that you get to see everyone else’s fireworks displays reflected in the lake. Usually there is some smart person who just sits in a canoe in the middle of the lake taking it all in. They probably have the best view and they don’t get sparks raining down on them.  One party across the lake has used flares in the past for lighting fireworks. Before the fence was put up around the park access to the lake there would be bottle rockets flying both ways across the street when the boys would shoot them at each other.



Things finally wind down and family’s start leaving because tomorrow Mom’s and Dad’s have to go to work. Gingersnaps and strawberries are all gone L Boo. They were a hit!

Dad, kids, grandkids & Jake in the lake