Our Fourth of July in Blanding

This year we went down to Jeff's hometown Blanding to celebrate the Fourth. We had a great time!! That morning, we went to the town's parade. The kids had lots of fun running for candy and getting sprayed by the fire trucks and the road construction trucks (that spray the road to control the dust). It was very HOT, so the boys didn't mind getting drenched. Later, we went to the park to play some games and check out the booths that were set up. We played a game where you throw rings on liter bottles of soda and win a soda. Jeff and the guy that ran the game kept trying to show Maddie how to ring a bottle, but she kept putting the rings in between the bottles...guess she thought since that was where there were all going, that must be where they go. Needless to say, we did not win a soda even with Maddie "throwing rings" right beside the bottles. Then, we went to the pool for "Diving for Dollars" or coins as the boys later clarified. Garet and Jace were pretty excited to begin with, but when it came time to dive, Garet wouldn't stick his head in the water and Jace needed little pushes down so he wouldn't "float." It was kind of funny...especially their picture after. Someone felt bad for them and shared some of their coins...the boys were not too thrilled with themselves. We will be practicing diving before we attempt this again next year. The older boys did a little better. Next year we will remember to bring goggles. For dinner, we went to Autumn's Aunt Karen's house for a BBQ. The kids played with water guns and jumped on the trampoline while we chatted while dinner was cooking. Jeff joined in with the kids, of course:-). He didn't attempt any cartwheels or flips for us this time since there was no net on the trampoline. Later, we went to the ballpark to listen to a band play and wait for fireworks. Maddie was done with the day when the fireworks began. She wouldn't even look at them. I held her (with her face pressing into my chest) until she fell asleep. It was a great fireworks show!! We were impressed with how nice it was for a little town. We had a great time with the family in great little Blanding!!