4th of July Weekend Recap

Hugging Grandma

Inside the Lava Cave

The 4th of July celebration at Drake Park

Trying out the squirt gun for prizes.

He's such a little man these days.

Trying to squirt the balls off the top of the bottle.

Awwwww...they actually like each other from time to time.

Family photo in front of Mirror Pond

(This is where Mirror Pond Ale got its name from Deschutes Brewery)

The Annual 4th of July Pet Parade

K's favorite part

Festive and patriotic

Chickens on parade

No worries, this little guy was on a leash.

Curb appeal? Watching the parade from the sidelines.

Playing with sparklers

More sparklers

I'm the Statue of Liberty!

Snuggling with Grandpa as the sleepiness sets in

I'm a little late in posting, but oh well. So spent the 4th of July weekend in Bend with my extended family. It was a busy three days, that's for sure. DH took Friday off, so we left early in the morning and got there by lunchtime. My Mom also had the day off, so we took the kids on a hike through the Lava Cave. It was a VERY hot day, so it was a nice way to cool off. The cave gets down into the 40s, so it's necessary to bring a light jacket or sweater. You can rent a lantern for about $4.00, which is a real deal considering that you can tour the cave for free.

The entire trek through the cave takes between an hour or two on average. It took us almost 2 hours with the kids. N did pretty well, K got pretty tired towards the end. We definitely got our exercise in for the whole week just in that one jaunt. The kids had fun, but were unaccustomed to the complete darkness. N is into rocks and such, so this was a neat adventure for him in particular. At various points, there is quite an echo too. I grew up in the area, but it had been many years since I had last visited so it was awesome to sort of go back in time.

Later that evening, DH and I took my nephew and his new bride out for dinner. We saw their new house and then ate at Applebee's. It was a really fun evening until we got a flat tire. We called AAA and they helped put our spare tire (donut) on. Les Schwab was closed for the holiday weekend and we couldn't afford to buy a new one elsewhere, so we ended up staying until Monday morning when they reopened. They patched it right up for free.

On Saturday, we got up early with my parents and went for breakfast at the annual charity pancake feed in the park hosted by a local rotary-type club. There was also a big festival going on with lots of games and people selling their wares. We then attended the Pet Parade downtown, another great treat. This is just your usual dog and pony show, nope you also get floating pups, turtles, and even a few chickens. It was getting very warm, so we went back to my parents' house so the kids could rest up.

My mom and I wanted to spend some girl time, so we saw a movie together (My Sister's Keeper). Since I treated her to the movie, she treated me to some popcorn and later a chocolate-covered frozen banana. It was a wonderful afternoon. For dinner, we BBQ'd and then went to a local park to watch the big fireworks display. I grew up watching this and hadn't seen it since the summer of '03 (when K was just one month old). It was fun to set off our own fireworks and enjoy watching all the other people do theirs too. However, nothing compares to the big ones the local firefighters launch from atop Pilot Butte.

When we got home, we discovered our dog (whom we had brought along) had gotten hurt somehow. Her fur was all muddy and bloody. It was too hard to tell what was wrong and since we couldn't find any open wounds on her, we went to bed. The next morning, we checked her again and my Dad saw she had done some damage to the screen door (probably trying to escape the sound of the fireworks) and another area outside. She gets very skittish every year on the 4th. We found that she had torn her one of her pawpad and scraped several others raw. We cleaned her up and followed the veterinarian's advice until we could get back home.

Sunday was fairly uneventful. My parents took K with them to a fiber art and quilt show in Sisters, while DH, N, and I checked out housing developments. We found some amazing homes for sale that were perfectly priced for us, but alas too many obstacles in the way for us to even think about moving yet. That's whole other blog for another day. I made dinner for the family that evening, something I was very proud of as cooking isn't exactly my forte. I can make some things really well, but am not well-versed in the kitchen.

We returned home early Monday morning and I got our dog right into the vet. They put her on antibiotics and pain meds to help bring down her fever. She's on the mend and doing much better now. She's just had to take it easy until her paws heal. What a crazy, but memorable 4th of July. Enjoy some additional photos below...