Vacation Part 1: Fourth of July

This year we started our annual road trip vacation on the 4th of July.  We began the day in usual "Steve fashion" by leaving at 3:30 in the morning.  The kids transferred from their beds to the van easily and fell back to sleep, giving Steve about 3 hours of peace driving.  Unfortunately Molly woke up first, and in her attempts to try not to wake up her brother and sister, she quietly read some books through a very twisty part of the freeway, causing her to get car sick.  Not an ideal way to start our vacation, but what can you do.  We arrived in Portland around 3:00 and enjoyed a nice dinner with Christie's family.  The kids were SO happy to be out of the van, and even happier to be able to play with their cousins.

Molly and Hailey spent some time together writing and illustrating books together (an activity that was their idea).  It was so cute watching them make up stories and then put it down with pictures and words.  Here's Hailey reading her story to us.

Luke and Garrett enjoyed running around being silly little boys together.  At one point I asked Luke to go over to Garrett for a picture and he gave him a big hug.  Garrett looked at him and said, "I love you Luke".  Yah... I almost started crying.

After the awesome dinner Christie made, they got out the fireworks and started lighting them off.  I was impressed how well the kids did considering their total and complete exhaustion.  Here they are waving their patriotic flags!

The kids LOVED the fireworks and did a great job listening to the adults and staying at a safe distance.  I love this picture of Steve comforting Luke who was a little startled by some of the louder ones.

Unfortunately, our visit was cut short as we headed out early the next morning for our drive up to British Columbia.  But we'll spend more time with them on the way back south.  The kids are already looking forward to it!