Fantastic Fourth!

Thinking back on the last week, I come up with a lot of words but the only one I'll use for this post is "rare".  Last week was rare... and not in a particularly good way.  Clayton left last Sunday and it seems like he's been gone a month already at least.  It's hard for me to believe that we've traveled as much road in such a short time.  There were some bright spots, however, not the least of which was a very last minute trip to Alaska for my sister Amy.  Since she's been in town, the days haven't seemed quite as long and the kids have someone else to entertain them.  

We had a really fun 4th of July!  We spent the day with Clayton's mom Anne's first cousin's family, Carol and Jim, out at their cabin in Wasilla, AK (no, we couldn't see Russia).  It was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day out on the lake and my kids had a great time swimming, playing with big kids and watching fireworks under full-sun (yes, at 10:00pm, it was still BRIGHT DAYLIGHT).  It was a long day, getting home at 11:00pm, but great fun.  We are grateful to have extended family in Alaska, for sure.

I'll leave you with some photos of our festivities.  Here's hoping this next week is infinitely smoother sailing than the last....

The view of the lake behind Jim and Carol's house... temps in the low 70's.  A regular heatwave for AK.

Clay being lazy.

Amy and Kara

Jim taking Clay on a canoe ride... both the kids LOVED going on the canoe.

Kara swimming (with required life jacket) in the freezing lake.

Clay is shaping up to be a regular pyro... he was all about the fireworks.  Now, before you go saying "Why waste all those fireworks during the daylight".. I say to you: this was about 9:00pm.  Still no official nighttime for us.

Anne's first cousin Carol Fincher.. her dad is brothers with Dr McFadyen.  Carol thought Clay would go to sleep if he sat on her lap.. anyone care to guess if that worked or not?  No, of course it didn't.  This was at 10:00pm, just before we headed home.  It was a great day.