4th of July

This year we decided to go to Nebraska at the last minute for Independance Day. I am soooo glad we did! It was so much fun.

The drive took us about 13 hours, 4 hours longer than it should have. So on the last leg of the trip it was dark and we followed a thunderstorm the last 4 hours. I have never witnessed a lighting storm to match it, and I lived in Texas one summer! The most time between lightning strikes was 8 seconds and that only happened once the entire 4 hours. Usually it looked like the entire horizon in front of us exploding with the biggest and longest fireworks display ever presented. Steve tried to capture it on his cell phone, but you couldn't see it very well.

The smartest thing we did the whole trip was to buy an adapter for the car that allowed us to plug in the Wii. We didn't hear from Stevie the entire trip. When we got there, we had a few days to hang out with Jared and Jeanne which was a lot of fun. I've really missed them since they moved away. My parents came on the 3rd, and my kids were really excited to see them. That is all except for Emma. My dad sat down next to her and tried to help feed her. That did NOT go over well. She is a bit of a Mama's girl and doesn't like strange men. This is a good thing.

On the Fourth of July, we had so much to do. First of all, our nephew Micah decided to take the plunge and get baptized, so it was a very special day for him. We went to the chapel, which was bordered by a corn field of course. So Steve had to get out there and play around.

Then Steve, Jared, Jesse, and my dad went to buy fireworks. About 2 hours and $300 later, they returned with their plunder. (If this is at all repetitive, I apologize. I'm sure Jeanne has already blogged about this.) The boys couldn't even wait for dark, they began letting them off in broad daylight and it took them about 3 hours to get through them all. The grand finale was one large firework that consisted of 340-something individual fireworks that ignited like a machine gun. The thing was taller than Micah. It was pretty cool.

All in all, it was a very fun trip which we may have to repeat next 4th of July. We have been spoiled and may never be satisfied with fountains and sparklers again. Thanks Jeanne (and Jared)!!!

Photos are courtesy of Jeanne.