Wild, Wild Week: What's More American . . .

 . . . than hot dogs, baseball and apple pie? (This is not the time to really think about this question, I tried and it didn't seem right.) It's pretty American, and so are we, so we decided to carpe diem and go hang out with family in Idaho for the day.

First, the hot dogs. I've got to admit I had a hamburger, and it was delicious. We ate, chatted, the kids played, got wet, then got dry again  . . .

Lissy has a love/fear relationship with animals. She squeals and loves looking, then wants to touch,  but then gets scared and runs away . . . and then comes back. Beckett was happy to help her get to know Captain Kitty.

Noah and Tate

Sophie was Miss Independence Day . . . wait, wasn't I Miss 4th of July once? I need to look at some old pictures. Anyway, Sophie is cute.

This was death-defying . . .Braden decided to jump off of the ramp and off of the deck on a scooter. We told him he'd die, but he didn't, so I guess it was awesome.

Then, the big baseball game. We did it about 5 years ago on the 4th of July, and would love to make it an every year tradition. It was so fun, and just magic for the kids. They looked forward to it all day, and then really got into it. The big boys stayed to see how far they could bash the ball afterward, so there was something for everyone.

Everybody's lined up, waiting for Uncle Nate to give the big team assignments.

Josh up to bat, Braden tried  is hand at pitching . . . they were both pretty serious about it.

Noah was very pumped to have a recreation jersey available for his big shot at second base, and Lily found other fun things to do.

Let's hear it for Outfielder Hannah

Andrew was way too adorable running around the bases in his flip-flops. Also, Lissy found entertainment.

Lily and Lissy, loving the American past-time.

All kinds of people were trying to stop Gary at second. He seems worried.

I post this because Mom and Dylan look fantastic

I post this because Sophie, Lissy, and Noah look fantastic.

It was pretty awesome getting to hang out with Hannah.

Kristen and Dylan

After the game was the apple pie. Actually crisp, but that's better. So delicious being an American. Of course we had to give our country a proper party by celebrating with fireworks. The night was so perfect . . . it usually is on the front porch with the family. Just cool enough, nothing else that "had" to be done, my favorite people . . .

The kids showing some excitement for the fireworks . . .

They're entranced. My dad (on the left)  made sure to let us know the description of each one. "Emits showers of sparks," every time. He also gave us the chance to guess which ones went to each name. Kept it interesting.

Who's this?

Lily wanted us to stop the noise of the fireworks.

Lissy thought it was cool, but better from behind her cage.

Aren't the porch-dwellers adorable? Nate did that face on purpose, and now I'm calling him out on the world wide web.

 . . . and we got home at 12:30 a.m. Such a long day, but isn't that what you want from the perfect days?