4th of July

We spent the 4th with Gma Marie and Gpa Norman geocaching and hiking.

After a long drive we arrived at the trail head to Grotto Falls.

Lunch must be consumed before the hike and with no fire pit we roasted hot dogs and even a marshmallow over the cook stove.

The water fall was absolutely beautiful.

Walking behind and into it.

Sitting in the cave under Grotto Falls was cool and comfortable.

The kids participated with the activities that hikers before us started.

Leaving clay hand prints and writing their names with charcoal on the rocks inside the cave followed by creating clay sculptures for the next hikers to find.

Cole: Skull  /  Jo: Bird

Family

Doug was also with us but he seems to always turn around and show his butt when the pictures are taken so I cropped him out of this shot.

We grabbed a few more caches on the way home which makes Oma and Gma/Gpa happy.

See bottom right corner of photo, Doug's butt.

Back at Gma / Gpa's it was time to make desert.

Homemade ice-cream!

And of course Jo is all about helping.

We set up for our private fireworks and anticipated heading down the road to watch the big show after we finished.

And THIS is how Gpa teaches his grandkids to light fireworks.

Efficient and effective (as well as awesome).

By the time we were wrapping up our fireworks more neighbors joined us, bringing their own loot of fireworks and we had our own show well into the evening.

GREAT neighborhood time together.

We never did make it to the "big show" down the road, didn't need too, this day and night was perfect.