4th of July

We had a great 4th. Aunt Carolyn flew in on Friday night and as she has never been canoing we took her. She doesn't pride herself on her swimming skills so we thought the Seneca river (creek ?) being a shallow body of water fit her needs perfectly and would squelch her fear of drowning anytime soon. Matt being the ever perfect host got the canoes from Calleva but also thought he'd keep the boys entertained and got them fishing poles as well. Taking off the hooks they were not deterred, maybe a little mystified on how that was going to work, but nonetheless ready and willing fishermen. Matt had to have the kids in one canoe, Bob and I even though we feel we have our steering down we're not too certain it's consistent, had our own canoe and Kole being the once Calleva employee and being married to one of the owners of Calleva so it must be that she is no novice at driving (at least getting from point A to point B in a fairly straight line--which is better than Bob and I did for awhile) drove Carolyn. It was fantastic! Lovely day and beautiful scenery and the good news is no canoes tipped. However, no fish were caught either. Go figure.

After we finished our canoe trip we stopped at Riley's Locke and loaded the canoes. While the boys were waiting they tried their hand at fishing off dock. Still to no avail not a fish caught however, we did get a little musical performance from our fair opera singer Sotir below. He sings all day. It's lovely.

After we went canoeing we took a picnic dinner to Poolesville and waited to watch the fireworks. There the kids played "patiently" as they waited. They also got kettle corn and yummy funnel cakes. Also a first for Carolyn. A day of firsts.

Sam had a good day at the 4th of July. He got a glow stick and would stick on everyone's neck and want to take a picture with them. Below are ones with Aunt Carolyn and grandpa. The first picture is the one with Grandma (and LuLu).  





We end with Kole and LuLu. It was a late night of course but it seemed like it was the adults that were spent rather the the kids. The fireworks were so fun and Sam said they were the best he's ever seen. Not that Uncle Ryan and Uncle Karl don't usually do a fantastic job at the ranch. We love those too.