be.: funtastic 4th

"For freedom Christ has set us free..." Gal 5:1

July 4th, the day we celebrate Independence. The day we celebrate living in a land of many freedoms. {freedoms that are being taken away from us, slowly but surely........but that's a whole 'nother topic!}

We are thankful for those that sacrifice so much to allow us to have these freedoms. But most of all we are thankful for the Ultimate Sacrifice and the Freedom we have in Christ!

July 4th. Also the day my family goes on our annual canoeing trip! We look forward to it every year~the splashing, the pranks, the snacks, much laughter, so much fun! Unfortunately, we never get any pictures. It's just not safe for our camera. It doesn't mix well with water! Although, I could have taken a picture of the aftermath....life vests, swimming clothes, water shoes, towels, sunscreen, water jug, snack bucket....all strewn about the house!

We typically start early (we met at 9:30 at the livery) so we can be on the water by 10am or so. Then canoe (or rather drift along as not much paddling is required on the Mad River!) for 2-2.5 hours back to the livery and stop for lunch. After lunch we get back on the water and continue for another 2-2.5 hours to the final stop. There are several deep spots that are great to stop for a swim, and the kids always have a blast! Even with the very low rainfall this year we got along fine. I wondered if we'd have to get out and push, but we didn't. The river is spring fed, so the water is very clear and cool. It was so refreshing to be able to cool off from the heat of the high 90-100° weather we've had lately!

When the fun on the river is done, we head home to clean up and then meet back at my parent's house for a pizza party and more fun. I was so pleased with being able to get all 6 of us showered, a load of laundry started, baby fed, and veggie tray arranged in ONE HOUR....but we ran off without the camera...oops! So no pics of our evening there, either.

I love, love, love to go watch fireworks on the 4th of July. But this year, it was so hot and we were all tired.....besides that, I was a little concerned about how baby L. would do. So we made the decision to just come home instead. Now I kinda regret it, but oh well :)

We ended up having some fun with the couple boxes of sparklers that's been laying around for at least a year! I bought some on clearance after the 4th either last year or the year before and we hadn't used them all yet. The kids still had fun with them and we enjoyed trying to do some art with photography!