Our 4th of July celebration wasn't.

We did barbeque at home with our family. Burgers, dogs and all that good stuff. Was delicious. The rest of the day was spent in car repairs and house cleaning. :) My kitchen cupboards look fabulous. The cars are all sparkling. The fireworks? They were on Friday evening. Hmmm. Better check a little earlier next year and make a better plan. So ... this would be the extent of my Independence Day photography. At least they're the right colors!

After sitting around doing house and home things for the past several days, we took a trip up to Hatchers for a hike today. I am totally out of shape. I run my buns off at work, but that means nothing. Nada. Nyet. Nothing. I should have had Jari stop the car when we saw these little ones crossing the road. I should have joined them in their leisurely stroll ... but I went up the mountain.

And I struggled. I stopped. I continued. The water color is this beautiful aqua. Fred & Brock are checking it out.

From whence we came. That trail keeps on winding around and eventually goes down the other side. That other side and down is where my cushy seat was parked.

One foot in front of the other. There was a woman slowly plodding her way up there with her 2 walking sticks. I figured if she was making it to the snow at the top ... so was I. And I did. Met Mark & Jenna at the top ... that was fun.

I really should do this once a week. The last time I hiked this place was July 3, 2008 with Miksu, Riku and Sami!

A stop on the way down to do some rock skipping ...

they were good at it!

Also had to cool off a bit. It gets warm up there! I don't care if there is snow on the ground. Warm it was. Fred gave himself a dunk ... said it felt great but his skull was numb!

Brock thought he'd give it a try as well. Not me. Thanks for asking!

We stopped at Turner's Corner for burgers on the way home. Got me out of grilling that chicken that is nicely marinating in the fridge. Tomorrows dinner done. Perfect. Today was a bit warm and this house was very warm as far as we were all concerned. We crashed. Took a little nap and headed to services. 10:26 pm and it is still warm in here. Better ... but warm. I don't own a fan other than the one in the greenhouse. Am thinking it might be quite nice to just sleep on the porch tonite.

Hope your 4th of July was a bit more sparkly than ours!