July 4th, 2014

My favorite day of the year!

I've lived in Spokane since I was 5 and not once have I been there for the 4th.

You will ALWAYS find me at our family's lake cabin in Montana for Independence Day.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS.

I'm so excited to share my favorite spot in all the world with Calvin, and I hope he will grow to love it and cherish the memories we make there, as much as I do.

I was pretty stoked about his festive outfit this year!
I think we nailed it.

Hat, Sunglasses, Shirt, Shorts, Sandals

The weather was beautiful and warm and the lake (as usual) was cold, only about 64°F!

But that didn't stop the masses from jumping in!

1 - 2 - 3!!!

Cousin Riley was getting fancy, flipping in over and over again.

The Zorb (as we call it) was a hit too.

It's HILARIOUS to watch people fumble around in that thing!

Tristan thought Calvin should channel Matthew McConaughey before hitting the water.

"Alright, alright, alright..."

Our little water baby was awesome in the water until Tristan put him in up to his shoulders...

He wasn't quite so sure about that.

After dinner we threw on some long sleeves and pants, not so much because it was cold, but because of the mosquitoes, and sat by the outdoor fireplace before the fireworks.

Calvin kept saying "hot.... hot..." and pointing to the flames.

I tried soooo hard to get a decent picture of Calvin watching his first fireworks, but I'm definitely no professional photographer and this was (unfortunately) the clearest one I got...

*sigh*

Calvin was initially leery of the loud bangs, he kept saying "Oh no...." in a very concerned voice.

But as the show went on and the fireworks got bigger his observations changed to 

"Oh yeah... Again!!" and he liked telling everyone what colors they were.

He didn't quite make it through the entire show, he got pretty antsy as it got quite late.

We had A LOT of fireworks.

So we ended up putting him to bed just as the last booms filled the sky.

Paper lanterns are so pretty! Especially when they don't fall immediately into the water like they did last year. ;)

Another wonderful 4th!
I already can't wait for next year!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow, what a week!

As per usual we spent the 4th of July in Montana at my family's lake cabin.

We took off on Tuesday which also happened to be my birthday.

Before hitting the freeway Tristan ran in to our favorite coffee place Couer Coffeehouse. I asked him to grab me something to eat because in the craziness of getting us out the door, I didn't get breakfast.

He came back with this...

Apparently it's called the "Baconator" and weighs about a pound.

It's a cross between a croissant, a cheese danish and a maple-bacon bar.

It was ridiculous and you'd better believe I ate that thing in all of 3 minutes.

The first half of the drive was lovely.

Beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery as usual.

We stopped in St. Regis for lunch and to stock up at our favorite fireworks stand.

Calvin was not as thrilled about the second half of the journey...

He kept purposefully dropping things then shrieking that he couldn't get them back.

I spent a good amount of time torqued in various awkward positions trying to appease the cranky one until I finally had to give up before I really hurt my back.

We put him down for a much needed nap as soon as we got to the cabin.

After a rest we went and played outside!

Calvin LOVED throwing rocks into the lake.

That alone kept him busy for at least an hour every day.  

 Bubbles were a big hit too.

 An outside Calvin is a happy Calvin.

Tristan even took him out on a kayak!

That evening Tristan ran into Kalispell to pick up an Ice cream cake he had ordered for my birthday.

Having a bunch of people sing "Happy Birthday" to you is just as awkward as it was 20 years ago.

I got a couple cards and a super awesome cutting board my uncle made.
(I actually traded him for on of the humping reindeer hats I knit)

Isn't if Be-u-t-full!

And I got to end my birthday with one the prettiest views around...

 

Cheers to another year!

Stay tuned for tales from the rest of our trip!