4th of July

Once again we spent the 4th of July in Troy's hometown.  We went up on Monday so we could enjoy some time with Grandma Judy and Auntie Susie.  There was a nice summer rain on Monday night that both Timothy and Teresa enjoyed playing in.  You can sort of see the rain drops in the picture below.

Teresa and I hanging out on the porch after the rain had stopped.

We had some sunny and hot weather on Tuesday, but Grandma Judy still took the kids for a ride in Teresa's new wagon (an early b-day gift from Grandma!)  We spent some time in the morning swimming and playing at a nearby playground.  The kids had fun and it was nice to be out before it got too hot.

In the afternoon we stayed in the cool house watching Lightning McQueen and snuggling for some stories.  A bit later Troy, the kids and I drove up to see Odalen--the former site of a church Troy's great-great grandfather helped to build.  The church burned several years ago and a memorial was built in its place.

There is a cemetery at Odalen where many of Troy's relatives are buried.  Troy took this picture of the kids standing near the grave of their great-great-great-great grandfather Hans who came from Norway with his son--Hans.  It was kind of neat to think of all the generations between them.  We explained to Timothy that the church that used to be here was his Grandpa Bernie's church when he was young.  Timothy kept saying he thought Grandpa Bernie would be sad to see his church burned down.

 It only took about four trys to get this picture of the kids as they waited to go to the parade on the 4th.  (Teresa wore the same dress from last year.  This year it was more of a shirt!  She really has grown.)

Before the parade, Troy fixed Timothy's hair into a spike.  He was pretty happy with his stylish hair!

Both Timothy and Teresa enjoyed the parade.  Timothy was excited to collect candy.  Teresa liked the horses and all the trucks.  We had a wonderful time celebrating with family!