Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

This year we stayed home.

We wanted to test the view from our back porch.

It has such a great view of the city that we were curious how well the fireworks would look.

Tess and Ty joined us.

Britta is always sparkling.

Or glowing...

Colette lighting up the night.

Spiderman also made an appearance.

Needless the say, the fireworks show did not disappoint.

And then we got to get right into bed because we were already home.

Loved it!

We had spent the day hiking with family.

The famous Gage with Parker.

Colette's favorite gal, Hannah.

With wonderful cousins around, they are less excited to be near each other.

We love the 4th of July. 

Richard told us stories about Lincoln from a book he just read.

He told us about D-day from another book he just read.

We painted faces,

painted hair,

threw glitter,

blew up firecrackers,

lit sparklers,

drank lemonade,

ate chicken and s'mores,

danced to Ray Charles, 

and laughed all night long.

I absolutely love this country.

The summer break has been a busy and fun time. 

We have spent many trips to the zoo.

And it never, 

ever...

gets old.

We have so many new babies in our zoo that it's adorable to go and see how they are growing.

Colette getting professional face painting.

(so much better than moms)

I signed the kids up for a weekly art class.

They learn different art styles from around the world and then copy them.

This was their Chinese dragons.

Colette is getting bored with these classes, but I told her, it gets her out of the house.

so tough.

Richard and I were invited to opening night of the lastest Museum exhibits.

It's all about NASA!

So they asked us to dress in Atomic Age attire.

I think I went a little overboard.

But Richard helped a friend categorize and clean up a meteorite that he found.

They put it on display in the Nasa exhibit as the largest local meteorite ever found.

So that's why we were invited.

Aside from dress up gala's, fireworks, and zoos, 

we mostly spend our days pulling weeds, then swimming.

or snorkeling in some cases...

And an occasional jaunt to Utah.

Eating fruit...

... and in general just being adorable.