The Best Fireworks Show on Earth

The "family" is hands-down the best part of our family Fourth of July!  It was another perfect 4th at the Cabin.  As every year goes by, I am more and more convinced that there is no place else to be.  It's the best fireworks show on earth as far as I am concerned.  Maybe not for you.  Because the reason it's so great for me is because of the people who are there watching it with me.  Yes, the food is to die for.  And being on the lake in the beautiful Northwest summer sunshine is pretty much incomparable.  But it's the wonderful people, the people I love that make it so great.       

The list of people who gathered for this year's celebration is exhaustive (as always) but very worth listing for memory sake: Adam, our 5 boys and I, Adam's mom and dad, Nicolle and Dan, Adam's brother Ryan, his sister, Alea, her husband, Zach, and their two kids, Camden and Parker, Zach's parents, Rick and Barb, my parents and grandmother, Stan, Candace and Jackie, Adam's sister Ashley and her boyfriend Ryan, and his parents, Betty and Steve, Adam's brother Aaron and his girlfriend Bree, and the Conlin's very close family friends, the Schweikarts, Kris, Derek, Brennon, Shiree and Trina.  Phew!

I started the day off with a long run around the lake.  The temperature was perfect, and the oxygen supply...so satisfying!  I love that everywhere I look as I run is green and alive.  But my allergies do not.  I was sneezing up a storm by the time I got back to the cabin and had to take a quick shower to get the allergy attack under control. 

The water in the lake is still a little cool from the damp summer the Northwest has had so far, but that didn't bother the boys a bit.  And the air was perfectly warm, not too hot, not cold at all.  They played in the water, on the new rope swing Ryan built, on the inflatables, on the dock, and in the water some more.  As family started to arrive at the cabin, the boys would give a little wave of hello before splashing right back into the water!

Really though, the kids are LOVING having their aunties, uncles, grandmas and grandpas around them.  It's what we miss so much living so far away.  And this annual trip is always like a feast of family for them.  I love seeing the connections they make every visit.  They love their family and love the time they have with them.

As always, the food was deeeeelicious!  There was a huge dinner feast of "beer butt" chicken and brats from the grill, with salads, chop and my mom's potato (yum!), and myriad other delectable sides.  My "cabin baby," as we call the belly we get from all the vacation eating, is growing nicely.  The real evidence of all the great food...we were so stuffed from all the food, we didn't even have s'mores!  I know, shocking!  Don't worry, we had them the following day.  

The show around the lake was amazing.  We always comment on how grateful we are that other people are willing to light their money on fire, because we keep it small on our dock.  This year we didn't even do fireworks ourselves at all, which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief, since our pyro boys love to help set them off.  But we thoroughly enjoyed watching all the rest.  It was fantastic and went for hours.  

Best day of the year, the Cabin Fourth.