Happy 4th of July!

Feeling proud to be Red, White and Blue today:

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness 

and courage to be the secret of liberty. - Louis D. Brandeis

We started our day off with a 3.5 mile hike up the Quarry Trail to the Canyon Trail, both part of the San Elijo Hills trail systems.  We each wore a kid in a Kelty Kids backpack and made our way up and down the hills.  Tough when you consider the packs weighed about 30-35 pounds.  Thank goodness the scenery makes the hike worth it.

After Liam's nap we headed to my mom's house for some swimming.  We were the only ones there, except for Buster, and we took over the shallow end of the pool.  Liam splashed in the beach entry for a while and then attempted to crawl on the water.  After a little while it was time for his nap, and then Laney, Patrick, and I played in the pool.  Laney really loves to jog underwater on the first step off the beach entry as well as leap from it into our arms.  She also likes when Patrick gives her piggy back rides around the pool.  We took Tobias in the pool for his first swim lesson.  He was hesitant at first, but made a few solo trips to the edge of the shallow end steps.  We floated him in the water twice, but he panicked and bolted.  He and Laney can sign up for lessons together this summer!  The kids and dogs had an awesome time playing in the sun, and I am most pleased with my vigilant sunscreen applications today since no one came home with a sunburn.

After we got home, Patrick barbecued a pork tenderloin and some sweet white corn, and we topped the whole thing off with some ice cream and 2 kids who went to bed early (hooray us!).  It was strange to spend the day without the company of friends or family, but nice to spend the time together as a family.  Patrick will be traveling to Dallas for the next 2 days and it was so fun for the kids to get to spend 3 days in a row with their dad.  I am looking forward to the next 4th of July when the kids are older and we can go to a real fireworks show (not the one I DVR'd for them to watch in the morning).  Happy birthday America!

On a side note:  Our new dog has come down with kennel cough (a dog version of a cold).  He currently is wandering around our house honking and spitting up disgusting foamy grossness.  He slept down stairs last night and still managed to wake me up with that cold.  This cough is highly contagious to other dogs, but Bodie had a vaccination recently so we are keeping our fingers crossed that Tobias is the only honking dog we have.  We are also keeping our fingers crossed that it passes quickly and he doesn't need to go on antibiotics for it.  His honking scares Laney and she runs screaming from him when he has a flare up.  Like we needed another way to create chaos in our house!