4th of July and Weekend at the Cabin

We spent the evening of the 4th of July at some friends house for a barbecue, and fireworks.

Brody loved jumping on John, and Jaime's trampoline with Brent.

When it was time for fireworks, this is how Brody's face looked: AWESTRUCK. 

John and Jaime bought a bunch of big fireworks-- the pretty kind that shoot into the air, explode and cascade through the sky (that may, or may not have been legal), and put on a show for all of us from their roping arena.

Then the kids got to do small fireworks.  Brody liked the sparklers.

The next evening, Brody and I went to my parents cabin.  Brent headed off to Jackson Hole with a friend, Broden Matthews, to rope in a World Series Team Roping.  The two of them thought it would be cool to win it, which would qualify them to rope in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo.  And guess what?!  They won!  So, it looks like we're headed to Vegas in December!

It's about a 3 hour drive to the cabin, and Brody did really well.  He's normally pretty good traveler, and  this trip he either slept,  snacked, chit chatted with me, or watched a movie on the Kindle.

Down at the boat dock.

Grandpa uses his tractor ("Ralph") to load his boat in and out of the water, and gave Brody a ride while doing so.

Getting ready for a boat ride.

I'm not sure what Brody thought about being in the boat because he had this permanent scowl on his face the entire time.  I think it was more out of concern, than grumpiness. 

One morning, my Dad, and I, got up at the crack of dawn (we're talking 5 am) to go wood cutting. We used to go as a family every year to get wood, and it'd been a long time since I had gone.  I actually enjoyed going and spending the time with my dad, not to mention, the exercise was good for me- I had forgotten how heavy those logs were. It was pleasant, and cool all morning, and foggy which kept the mosquitoes at bay.

I didn't bring very many toys with us to the cabin, so one day while we were in town, I bought Brody a new suction cup dart gun.  He played with it for hours, and loved it.  Although, I kept having to patiently remind him not to shoot it at people.  He tried to shoot it at birds, trees, and any other target he could find.  He's definitely all boy.

Brody paused momentarily to blow on a dandelion.

I did come home with a few souvenirs, but not the good kind.  For some reason, MOSQUITOES liked the taste of me.  I ended up with a big, fat bite right in the middle of my forehead.  I felt like it stood out from miles away. . . trust me, it did.  This picture was a few days later, after the swelling had gone down.