Salamanders, Sunshine & Sparklers

Like I have every year for the past 37, I spent the 4th of July holiday at my parents' cabin.  This year, like the past 11, began with the kids jumping out of the minivan as soon as we arrived at the cabin, and me yelling to their blurry backs as they raced to the creek, "don't get your clothes wet!"

just in case you were wondering what he was holding!

After collecting the requisite slimy creatures, the kids' wet clothes were exchanged for swimsuits.

When I was growing up, my family would come to our cabin every weekend all summer long.  This was waaay before there were DS games (actually it was even before the Sony Walkman!!).  There were no laptops, and, much to my 12 year old dismay, no TV either -- just to be clear, the TV WAS invented, we just did not have one at the cabin!  In any case, my brother, sister and I were forced to play outdoors or read or play games while we were at the cabin.  I tried to entice the older kids with a card game called, "Oh Hell", thinking the name alone would lure them away from their electronic devices ...

A little advice from Pop Pop

Don't ever trust the scorekeeper ... Grandma won the game -- "Oh Hell!"

after Oh Hell, we played a game of Hearts ...

That had better not be the Queen of Spades!

it worked for a while, but, all too soon Thing 1 was back in her favorite spot!

For some added adventure this year, Grandma, Ethan and I had to hike up to the spring that feeds the water to our cabin.  Every summer there is always an issue with the water that has to be investigated --  this involves hiking up the mountain or wading through the creek and following the PVC tubing that connects the cabin to the spring and looking for leaks in the pipe.  For years this was Pop Pop's job, and we all just sat around waiting for the water to come out of the faucet so we could make our lemonade!  

This year Pop Pop could not do it, so he enlisted his minions (Mom and I), and I enlisted mine (Ethan)! Grandma likes walking in the woods about as much as she likes having root canal surgery, which is to say, not at all, but she was the brains of the bunch and had to come along to train the next generation. Ethan, on the other hand, was thrilled to be the sherpa and the walkie-talkie controller!

Once we got to the spring, we had to clean it out, then re-connect it to the reservoir tank, then follow the line back down the mountain, up the creek and back to the cabin repairing leaks along the way ...

the steep, rocky "trail" along the pipe

about 4 hours later, we finally had water in the cabin!

Another favorite thing we do every year is pack a picnic lunch and visit RB Winter State Park, which is four miles down the road -- we have always called it the "dam", which the kids delight in saying!!

another beach, another truck!

Summertime, and the livin' is easy!

Since it was the 4th of July, some sparklers were in order -- luckily nobody was hurt, and we did not burn the forest down!

Ethan had time to get in a little fishing, but nothing was biting.

Ethan and his little helper!

In addition to watching the musical 1776, and eating Grandma's awesome food, we had to take the traditional 4th of July photo on the front porch of the cabin ... we have been documenting our growing family on these steps since 2000!

Charlie's first 4th of July at the cabin in 2007!

getting the sillies out  

Happy 4th of July!