We had an awful spring - basically no spring was to be found. So the strawberries were late and fabulous. Ethan just wanted to eat them instead of pick them. We picked three flats-full, which was around 30 lbs. Let's just say my fingertips were dyed red for about a week and my freezer is full of non-sugar-free jam. Mother Nature decided to finally give Seattle some consecutive hot days, so everyone had the fans going. The power went off in our building for several hours right after I put the jam and the bags of frozen strawberries in the freezer. Thanks to the Fords for saving the berries with their chest freezer. All I can say to that is - come and use my freezer anytime!
Here we are with our berries.
Is there anything better than a hometown parade on the Fourth of July? Well ... I think the only answer to that is Kaysville's Fourth of July "Water" parade. Man, I wish we could have gone to that one. The Hillsboro, OR parade is definitely a close second. Ethan loved the candy, and we decided to let him have some patriotic pleasure by letting him eat it. He kept saying, "Open it!" He ate so much candy and junk on the fourth that he in fact threw up the next morning. Is this another "Mom of the Year" award heading my way? We had a great time with Dave, Amber and their kids. Thanks for letting us stay!
Then it was off to the Greg and Shannon Connell household for the family festivities. They live in Vancouver, WA - which basically sounds like a war zone for a few days as all restrictions are lifted on fireworks in their county. $300 later, the kids had blown the driveway to smitherines (sp). Thanks to Aunt Jen for this "smashing" pinata.
Here's Ethan not looking at the camera and probably looking at one of his cousins light a "stink bomb." The thing that cracks me up most about the Fourth and the Connells is that they all know the names of the firewords. Maybe it's because I came from a family of all girls and we didn't really light our own fireworks, but "Roman Candles" and "Something Syrens" (?) are common vernacular in this family.
Here we are with a sparkler. Priceless.
To top the whole weekend off, Steve, his brothers, brother-in-law, and his dad went and golfed at Pumpkin Ridge - a fancy shmancy course near Portland. Hey, if Tiger has graced the course with his presence, it's fancy shmancy. Good times for the brethren.
