July 4th, 2008

First we left the house at 7:20 AM to go out to Hood river to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Jack was the perfect age for this. He loved it and didn't want to leave.

One of the first things we did was go to the tents where there were lots of tables with some different Thomas the Train sets up for kids to play with.

Then Thomas came rolling in.

And the video, sorry it is so jittery:

Before we boarded the boys got a picture with Sir Topham Hat.
























Of course we had to take pictures on the train. The boys had a fun ride. Jack was pretty mesmerized at first.

This is a picture taken after we had ridden on the train. Pretty cool for the boys, and not too bad a time for us either.

As soon as he could get us there, Jack had us back at the tent with the Thomas the Train tables so he could play. Needless to say, he did not want to leave.

We got to ride a school bus both when we arrived at the off site parking lot and when we left. The boys loved the bus too. Simple pleasures I guess. We went to a McDonalds nearby and the boys and Bridget and I ate. We don't often to McDonalds all together so even that was fun. On the drive back the boys and I fell asleep while Bridget drove us the 70 miles back to home. At 3PM we were off to Grandpa Leroy's country club for an Independence Day Bar B Q there. I ate sort of healthy, two helpings of salad, but with really good Bleu Cheese dressing, salmon, more salmon, half an ear of corn, some pasta salad, and half a bratwurst with sauteed onions and sauerkraut. Oh, and the pound cake with loads of fresh made whip cream. That is always a diet buster. The kids all ate well, and after that we headed back home to hang out until the next event around 7PM this evening.

Three families in our ward came over and we all had a blast letting off fireworks. The Webbs brought over the illegal kind--which was surprising since they come across as so straight laced. The Krantz' brought over some really good homemade chocolate chip cookies. Any dessert Melinda makes is sure to be really good. The Odils came as well and it was great. We provided some more munchies and Popsicles and fireworks that we picked up at Costco for cheap. Other than one of the Krantz kids taking a pretty good fall off of a retaining wall and drawing blood from all four limbs, we all had a great time.

Here are some pics from tonight:

All the kids, almost. The Odil's boys are missing below

Fireworks!


We had a great time and since the whole event was outside in the driveway there was hardly any clean up. Bridget said I could do this sort of a party every Independence Day. I agreed, 20 minutes of clean up for a 3 hour party is great.