July 4th!

Originally I was going to Nonny and Poppy's on June 30th (Sunday) and stay until July 11th. Brian was going to come up separately since he needed to work and join us on Tuesday (July 3rd) and stay until Saturday (July 7th) then bring the oldest two home so they could go to New Life Camp for the week. Mom and Dad had a derecho (aka land hurricane) at their house and lost power for a few days so things didn't go as planned. Mom came down Sunday afternoon because they didn't have power since Friday but then Dad called and said they got it back that night...so she was going back Monday. I was supposed to go with her but ended up getting sick and things didn't go as planned. She took Kinsey back with her for a couple of days before we all came up together and joined her on Tuesday night. We ended up staying until Saturday and had a fun time! I'm VERY thankful that after the first day of fever/chills/aches my sickness just turned into a bad summer cold and I was able to go afterall!!

It was HOT HOT HOT in MD just like it's been in NC but we still managed to have a fun 4th! The fireworks in all the surrounding towns were canceled b/c of the storm so at the last minute we decided to go on an adventure and drive up to Frederick. We came upon the most beautiful park with a lake, creek, trails, gorgeous old houses, pool, playground, etc! Had we planned better (and brought cash) we would have taken the kids on boat rides but they had fun exploring and watching others FALL into the water! We brought cards to play and had just enough money to buy everyone (except water loving mama) their OWN bottle of gatorade which was perfect because of the heat!

I'd LOVE to bring the kids back sometime just to play in the creeks and explore more...and take pictures, of course!! We found the perfect spot for our blanket and it wasn't crowded near us at all!

The entrance had this beautiful covered bridge.

We were sitting near college students who offered us a box of sparklers which the kids loved playing with.

Braden took this picture that I LOVE!!...and we brought big and small poppers that the kids had fun with...even ephram was excited about them even though they made noise:).


What a great, great, time we all had together watching the fireworks over the water!! I am SO thankful for our family!

The moon is on the right side and was BRIGHT orange during the fireworks. It looked so neat as it rose higher and looked even bigger.

We were able to get out with NO traffic problems (YAY!!) but got home VERY late since it was a bit away. The kids crashed when we got home and slept in the next morning:)!

When we got home Brian accidentally deleted ALL of my pictures from the 4th...and the whole trip...and even some from before. I was SO sad because I LOVE my 4th pictures...had a "sick" feeling in the pit of my stomach. He worked and found a site where you can restore them and after an hour had been able to save most of them for me. Whew! I am SO glad because I just love our 4th pictures!!