Happy Fourth of July!

We started off our Independence Day celebration the night before, with a drive over to see the famous Mount Rushmore fireworks.

The parking garage there filled up by 10 a.m. and we were in no position to spend the entire day inside the park with such young children. So we took the short drive (about 20 minutes) over in the early evening after Mikel got off work, scouted out a place with a good clearing and took in the festivities from afar. Many, many, many people parked along the roadway for miles in either direction and hiked up. We saw tons of folks perched upon cliffs or just standing up in the wooded hills. If it weren't for so many people congregated in the general area I'd have been wary of mountain lions. I think the kids seemed more startled by the B-1 Bomber fly-over that kicked off the pyrotechnics than they were fascinated by the actual fireworks. Still, they were an awesome sight, and I'm sure they were even prettier from inside the park where the presidential stone faces were better illuminated by the colorful fireworks.

The daylight photo that shows the faces and a gargantuan screen (I don't think that's normally there) was taken as were driving by looking for a spot. Sorry I don't have any better photos of the actual fireworks. Our camera doesn't have a big zoom.

The pretty photo of Anna and Alexander on our back deck was taken Friday after we'd finished our little cookout of hot dogs. While the kids were napping I made some totally yummy to-die-for vanilla ice cream. And the kids also got their first taste of corn on the cob. They gave it a thumbs-up!