July 4

July the 4th is usually a pretty big day around here.  Typically, we have a lot of wonderful folks join us for a full day of activities including eating, visiting, pedal boating, and, of course, fireworks.  However, this year both the M. family and the B. family were out of town on vacation.  And you remember that Anna and Matthew are spending the summer in Oklahoma.  Sooooo... we had a very quiet July 4th with just the 7 people still living out here at Willis Creek Ranch.

July 4 is also my sister Julie's birthday.  We always celebrate her with a family dinner prior to setting off fireworks in the front yard.  We enjoyed a meal filled with fresh vegetables from our neighbors garden (thanks so much to Keith and Marilyn!!) then headed to the front porch to watch Jackson and Jonathan set off fireworks.  They went for quality, not quantity, this year and chose some wonderful fireworks!  We enjoyed them tremendously.  We then watched the city fireworks show, and various fireworks set off by neighbors near and far.  I have to say, our front porch offers a fantastic view of the horizon and we can see fireworks from just about every direction.  It was a lovely evening, cool and calm, and we sure did enjoy ourselves.

Here are a few photos that I took.  I didn't take very many!

I was messing around with a new-found setting on my camera... kind of cool, I think!

Again, testing the setting...

Jackson and Grandma Sue   :)

watching fireworks from our front porch

Jackson and Jonathan put on a great fireworks show for us!