4th of July Fun

I was hoping to get some other pictures from my sister, but thought I better just get this posted before too much time goes by and I never get to it. Being able to print out this blog at the end of the year, really is motivation to document the things we do as a family. So here is our fourth in a nutshell: For Father's Day Tate and Blake got John a white-water rafting trip down the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth. Tate and Blake worked it just right so grandma and grandpa could come also and help babysit and Aunt Karrie and Uncle Andrew would come for fun. Karrie has all the rafting pictures, but we had a great time! My mom and dad did the morning trip down the river and John, Karrie, Andy and I met them for the BBQ and switched the little boys so we could go down the afternoon trip. We all had a great time, got wet, managed to stay in the raft, Andrew was crazy and sat on the front holding onto the ropes as we went through one of the rapids! It was crazy. The rafting was on Saturday before the fourth. We stayed in Wenatchee overnight and then drove back through Leavenworth on the fourth. The city had some fun free:) activities for kids so John and I and Karrie (b/c Tate wouldn't go anywhere without her), hung out in the kid area while the others checked out the shops. It was so nice to have the sun out, since Seattle had yet to really start summer-lots and lots of rain and clouds. Blake is always a happy-camper and enjoyed chillin' in the stroller listening to the live band.

The only bummer to all the festivities were the long lines. Tate has no patience for that.
So, he made friends with the Salmon. . .

and the horse giving rides around the town.
Tate sure has a thing for his Auntie Karrie. They went everywhere together! (Notice the keys in his left hand--that's part of the reason he loves Karrie, for her keys.)

Blake and I waiting for everyone to get ready so we could head-out in the morning.

By the time we got home that night, I wasn't really thinking about fireworks--we hadn't gotten any and I figured Tate would just crash and not care. Well, we have great friends who thought to include us in their plans:) Tate's buddy Gage just lives up the street and said we could join their family fireworks show. John quickly volunteered to stay with Blake (since he was sleeping) and missed all the fun. (I think John just wanted some time to recuperate from all the fun we'd had!)

Tate was so shy at first with the sparklers-just watched Lindzee do it first.

Then, he wanted to hold it. (I know those things can blow your hand off or something, bad mother award, but no serious injuries happened.)

Not so shy anymore about those!

Tate had a GREAT time!

We go up and play at Gage's house often because Tate and Gage are buddies and also because they have some really cool car keys. If you know Tate, you know his two great loves in life these days are diggers and keys. I don't know what it is about the car keys, but he loves holding them and putting them in his pockets, etc. etc. Well, Lindzee has some cool key chains on their keys and Tate loves them. It is the first thing he wants when we go over. This picture Tate is actually trying to share the keys with Gage-that is significant b/c you usually have to pry them outta Tate's hands!

What a fun weekend.