Happy Fourth of July!

What a fun weekend! On Saturday, Bruce and I took Colter on a bike ride at the Riverdale River Parkway. It was a very cool ride. Well, Bruce was hot, but that's another story! The trail is mostly paved (we road further after the pavement ended), and actually pretty shady. It winds along the river behind the city. I was surprised to see that it goes right by my first house. We lived in the Trailer Park that's across the street from Target when I was a baby. It wasn't even a double wide, but my Mom and Dad sure had great memories of that trailer! It was such a neat trail. There was even a dirt bike trail complete with jumps. Of course, Bruce and Colter had to try! Not me. I'm not a jumper. I did, however, enjoy the ride after the pavement ended. It was pretty rocky, but not too bad. The one hairy moment came when we had to ride right along the train tracks. I kept thinking "There probably won't be a train. It's the Fourth of July and maybe trains don't run on holidays"...Well about two minutes after we went down the hill away from the tracks, we heard the familiar rumblings of a train. Wheeeww!

This bend of the river is on the other side of Highway 84, a road we travel often but have never seen it from this side. Notice the beautiful Canadian Geese on the bank. It's amazing the things you see when you're biking....
Here is yet another example of living in a town your whole life and finding something cool that you never knew about. Look at this neat dolphin sculpture on the side of the trail. After we were done with our ride, we stopped by Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Vern's. While we were there, we were thrilled to see the whole Brenn Hill family, including Briggs! He was so cute. He even played baseball with Bruce. They took turns pitching and hitting, and I even got to play a little catch with him. Well, I didn't know I was until he threw the ball in my direction and called my name! Luckily I was paying attention:). Every day he gets a little stronger. It's truly amazing how far he has come. People who don't believe in miracles haven't met Briggs Hill. What an inspiration he is. Watch this and be sure to press the "play" buttons to hear him play and laugh. It will make your day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Isn't that neat? What a sweetheart! After our visit, we headed home, where we met up with Grandma Sue, Mardee, Jeni, Nikki, Emma J, Mason and Justine (whew!) at our house for a BBQ. Not our usual blowout, but really nice and mellow. After a great meal of burgers and brats, it was time to light fireworks~

As "Safety Mom" this makes me soooo nervous!

Cute Justine:)
Mason and Emma love glow sticks, glow bracelets, glow necklaces, even glow earrings! If it glows, they love it!
There were so many bugs while we were lighting fireworks, Bruce had to bring out the bug zapper. Juss and I sat and watched while literally thousands of bugs flocked to the light. Justine decided to challenge Colter to (what else?) eat one! The prize? 10 bucks. Bruce upped the ante to another 10, so of course, Colt did it! Yuck! Aunt Nikki has the picture, so I'll post it ASAP.

On Sunday the Ivins invited us over to swim, then BBQ. The kids had so much fun swimming and the adults had a great time visiting. It was a beautiful afternoon, just perfect for the pool. The water felt wonderful:)

Here's Mason, Juss, Emma, Payten and Raygen...

Emma loved this float of Kaseys....

What a little fire cracker! Emma in her "Keeni"...Sweet Swimming Sisters!

Mason was really brave this year and jumped off the diving board and went down the slide. He had to wear floaties, but the only ones left were pink. I have some pictures of him, but he wants me to Photoshop blue floaties on him! Stay tuned for that! Thanks so much to the Ivins family and Nicki 's family for a great afternoon.