Up in smoke...

The 4th of July weekend began first with Jack taking the boys on the father son campout. In true Roddy fashion, the campout began with a trip to McDonalds. I mean, really why make things difficult on yourself and add cooking to the mix? Apparently the church campsites have these open A-frame structures that the families can sleep in. Each A-frame hold two-three families. Lesson learned this year is select the other family very carefully. Apparently someone out their snores a whole lot louder than Jack and it kept them up most of the night. The highlights of the camp seemed to be the rope swing and sliding down a huge tarp covered hill on inner tubes with water running down it. Apparently there would be huge puddles of water on the hills so the kids would splash through it and slide down at amazingly fast speeds! From the footage Jack captured on his phone, I have to say it looked like loads of fun. I also learned another highlight of the trip was Jack adding some excitement to the day by handing out $20 to any of the kids that could climb to the very top of the rope swing. He said it was a lot tougher than it looked. In the end Connor was actually the only one that was able to do it while another kid came so close that Jack gave him the money so he wouldn't continue tearing up his hands trying to get up the last foot. Leave it to sweet Connor to tell Ty that he deserved the money more than himself and handed his money over to him. Apparently Ty had made numerous attempts yet just didn't have the strength to get to the very top. Connor felt Ty deserved the money more for all the pain he went though. Unfortunately I don't have any photos to share from their excursion but from the stories the boys have told me I think the memories will be engraved in their minds for a while!

While the boys were doing all of this Sage and I were at Alderbrook, a beautiful resort on the Hood Canal. Unlike camping, we were enjoying lovely accommodations, good food and friends, amazing scenery with views of the Olympic Mountain range, one of the best firework shows I've been to and a great band. We'll definitely have to come back with the whole family. And of course we have some photos to share from our mother daughter trip...





On the morning of the 4th, Jack and the boys went mountain biking with some friends. After they returned we headed up to the annual Homeowners association carnival which the kids always love.



We divided our evening by having a barbecue with some friends and then returning to our neighborhood to do fireworks with some of our neighbors. Yup, 4th of July is pretty much about watching your husband and kids get a huge thrill watching hundreds of dollars go up in smoke. This year was no different. Admittedly, as much as I hate seeing money being spent in seconds with nothing to show for it in the end, nothing beats seeing the huge smiles on your kids faces as they watch with anticipation what will come next! Indeed, it was another successful 4th of July...