The early bird gets the worm.

Sunrise.

This one was just for Joe...got up to catch this one on his way fishing one morning.

The Fourth!!

After a very busy day out on the water, we were ready to be lazy!  Being really good at lazy is kind of a lot of work sometimes....Joe taught the girls the fine art of waffle-making:

I ran off to be lazy at the market by myself for a while, then braved what turned out to be a very quiet day at WinCo for more being-lazy supplies.

Which Kayte and Sara turned in to amazing cupcakes:

Joe actually ended up reinforcing this great plan by a second run to the store, when the girls tried to double a very large recipe and ran out of sugar.  So this end result is actually round 2.  Cupcakes for the win.

We ran off to my mom's for more epic celebrating.  Tons of really amazing food and equally fun people.

Fourth of July manicure!  :)

Half-attempt at a family photo.  Caption:  We were here.

Tons of cousin-fun.

 

...and friends came!

...and a prayer for our country.  How much we need it!!

It wouldn't be the fourth without some of America's favorite pastime....in skins.  Of course.

.....and a water fight!

Beautiful country.

 

...and then a bunch of 10 year-old boys played with some fire.  And eventually shared some of that fire with their kids.

 

...the rest of us backed them up with some precautionary hoses.

He clearly already has a passion for pyromania.  Heaven help us.

Such a beautiful day for celebrating and my mom did an amazing job...such a festive scene!

We barely made it home in time to change and head off to Pullman.  We sat directly under the cannons and it was the loudest brightest show ever!  Absolute perfection.

Boatin'

We took advantage of the very hot 3-day weekend and headed out nice and early for Coeur d'Alene Lake.  We met up with the Kline's and they took us to their favorite boating location....over the river and through the woods...kinda.

Eagle on its perch.

The morning was calm and glassy and we were happy to have an adventurous crowd along to motivate us on to bigger and braver things.

Will and Kenny started out with some tube wars...

...and then it was Intro to Cliff-Jumping.  All the kids did it!  I was seriously loving all this positive peer-pressure.

Joe and I took the leap from the top....where I was reintroduced to the concept of gravity and how important it is to make a clean entry.  A lesson you really should only need once.

 

Ben leap-frogging it from the lower rock.  He would've much rather started higher up.

The other 3 thought that this middle spot was quite high enough.

Then Jake gave the oldest three a shot at getting up on skis!  Joe and I are pretty useless in this category and we are definitely at the mercy of others to teach our kids the ropes.  Will had a pretty strong go of it, and Kayte managed to get up on top of the water for a stretch....and little Sara wowed us by popping right up on her first time ever.  She is definitely going to give her older siblings some competition...well, in everything.

It was a long hot lazy day and the water was just cold enough to keep us cool for the stretch.  The lake has been so warm this year!

Back out through the Disneyland canal....

...complete with a Louisiana home sitting right on the water.

Such a fun summer day!

What to do when Moscow hits 95?

....head to Lewiston where the temp is in triple digits.  A little carwash, a little Costco pizza....good times.