Fourth of July Fun

For the Fourth of July, we registered the three older kids in the Greensboro Fun Fourth race through downtown. The boys ran the 1-mile race and Olivia did the 5k. 

They were giving out some silly swag at some of the booths, so Ezra went nuts. 

There werent many kids in the 1-mile race, but Ezra managed to come in third.

Gabe wasn't very far behind, taking 5th. 

Olivia, however, seemed to be a bit out of shape from the long break since spring training and came in pretty late.

She was given a bit of a hard time for not being able to catch the octogenarian who came in before her.

It wasn't all about the races, tho. We did our traditional gathering with other families down at the Grim's farm in Pleasant Garden.

The paper lanterns are one of the highlights of the evening.

And of course, the fireworks!

Camp 2018 - Sunrises, Moonrises, and Other Light Shows

If there's one thing that camp is good for (and believe me, it's not the only thing!) it's gorgeous sunrises.

It's so hard not get up every morning at 5am just for the spectacular show that gets put on. 

Each one is a little different. Some are so foggy that you can't see the sun at all.

And some are so picture-perfect they don't seem real.

Sometimes, though, the moon gets jealous and has to steal some of the sun's thunder.

Even the clouds get into the act some days, looking like something out of a painting.

And then, if we're lucky, we're there when the town of Long Lake has a fireworks show and dazzles us from miles away.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the fireworks we can see from the dock are almost 3 miles away in a straight line and so we don't hear the booms of them until almost 12 seconds have passed!

It's only a quirk of the geography that even allows us to see the fireworks at all.

If the Camp were a quarter mile to the left or right or if they launched the fireworks from a spot that same distance to either side, we wouldn't see them because of the mountains.

City Park and Fireworks at Jesse's

This year, as last, one of the things we did to celebrate the Fourth of July by going to Burlington's City Park, followed by a fireworks display at JR's friend, Jesse's house.

City Park is always a fun time for the kids, with the rides and carousel.

This is a 101 year old restored Denzel Carousel with a custom made pipe organ.

Fireworks at Jesse's is quite the event, with about 250 people gathering on the lawn to watch Jesse light off one of the most impressive homemade displays. Not to mention the homemade ice cream, brownies, cookies and, this year, snow cones!

Olivia and Gabe managed to talk some stranger into throwing a football around with them.

Ezra, who is not timid in the least, didn't know what to think about the fireworks. He never really got upset but he moved back and forth between JR's arms, my arms (holding onto my neck very tightly or having me wrap him up in a blanket) and then onto the blanket where the kids were laying. He would crawl all over Olivia and Gabe, even standing up and throwing himself down on them. Gabe, far more timid by nature, did really well this year. He and Olivia laid curled up in blankets watching the display. Between each round, Gabe would get up and come sit in my lap. There he would ask me to pray with him to help him not be scared.