Fourth Of July 2008....

OK I should have inserted my pictures FIRST and then written about our night at the cabin... but here is a picture of Chris helping Kiley in the pie eating contest! I wish the picture wasnt fuzzy but like I have said before.. I HATE that camera.. but maybe it is the cameraman... ugh
Ashley won the pie eating contest! LOL! ASHLEY?!?!?! hahaha!! These glasses are SO cool.. they light up!
The cabin... I CANT WAIT TO "RENT" IT! That is my stud muffin watching the grill.... I Was out rowing the boat...
SEE... There I am.... picture taken by Sydney! I have to give the camera to the girls or take self portraits..
in this picture you can see ALL my loves.. minus the man of the house.. he was laying behind me... CJ, Sydney in purple sleeping like her restless self with her head jammed at the top of the tent... the dog... Kiley and Ashley near the other side... awww...

And what do you plan on doing with those balloons girls?!?!?!
all my kiddos on the bridge with their patriotic garb.... CJ managed to nasty his up shortly after putting them on him....
the favorite cabin pastime... rowing the boat... our friends daughter Olivia in the front looking away and her friend Colleen in the back.... Ashley in front, Sydney in back
Kiley enjoyed a good row in the boat also... with Olivia (12 years old)
The pie eating contest lineup!

So, we went to Admiral Fife Cottage to spend time with our friends Chuck and Christine and their kiddos. Almost last minute we decided we would also set up our tent and spend the night. We have had the tent for over 2 years and had never even opened it up so we were super excited to finally have the chance to use it! I think me and Chris were ALMOST as excited as our little ladies to go camping! The place was just awesome. Totally cozy and quiet and perfect. We hope to be able to get some rental time around October 3rd so Chris can re-enlist there and we can have an early October barbeque after the "ceremony." There is a little lake that really isnt for swimming and a boat you can use. The cottage has 2 bedrooms and a living room equipped with an AC and a pull out couch and a TV with a whole bunch of videos for people to watch. A flat top stove and a fridge and a microwave. A bathroom with a shower... so, it isnt like you are "roughing" it but... you can set up a tent. Which is what we did. Our friends offered up the cabin for us to use because we had the baby and stuff... but... I am all for a night of sleep in a tent... in the rain... with the rain dripping through the super cool tent in spots about 6am... so that when the baby has a fever... you go to the cabin to try to go to the bathroom and the teenage daughters had locked the door for the night... and you go to the car and get the tylenol for the baby and go back to the tent with a whole bunch of towels and place them nicely over your children and your spouse who are getting dripped on so they can get as much sleep as possible. I suppose it worked. At that point I was able to rest a little bit easier... knowing we were not going to float out of our tent... the towels would sop everything up.... and keep my family dry. I do love our tent though.... I just need to get some sealant on it I think... I also caught my very first fish... didnt know what the heck I was doing.. .and didnt like the thing flopping around on the end of my line... and Chris lit off some fireworks... and we took a walk on the path late at night in the dark. The girls thought it was cool and not scary... I doubt they will stay that naive and innocent to not think anything can happen to them! The teenagers were scared to death to go walking on the path at night... we played some volleyball against 2 twelve year old girls... both of them combined are not as old as I am... and we still beat them.. even having to maneuver around toddlers on our court! So... I guess you get the gist that we had a great time... It was a night to remember.. and I know my girls will always remember how cool it was... I never went camping with my parents.... and I told my girls how happy I Was that I took them camping... it isnt Austria... but it was alot of fun! Even the dog thought we were the greatest owners in the world... and I had to take a tick off of her last night... but she still loves me.

God Bless America....

I have so many pictures I would like to share.... but... I wont bore you!!!! Hope everyone had an awesome 4th!