4th of July weekend

The Saturday before 4th of July weekend I drove Andrew and Claire to meet Mandy in Fresno.  It was Andrew's annual week to spend with Landon and this time Mandy also invited Claire.  I then drove back home, worked for the week and drove back on Friday morning the 4th.  Danny ended up staying home to work on the house.  It was really hot when we got there.  In fact, I didn't take Grant's bag in the house and his gummy vitamins melted into a solid mass in the car.  Mandy and the neighbors had planned a block party that afternoon, so we went swimming which felt really good in the heat.

Ryan was throwing Claire and Mia into the pool.  I can't believe how high she is!

Then Ryan finally went in with all of them.

That night all of the neighbors got together for fireworks.  My kids haven't been that close to them so they really liked them, well except for Grant.  I ended up having to take him home because it was too loud.

On Saturday we went up to Sequoia National Park to hang out at Hume Lake.  The setting was beautiful!

Ryan asked to borrow someone's fishing gear so that the kids could try out fishing.  

Here is Andrew taking a turn

Claire and Mia "borrowed" someones raft and took turns relaxing.

They also found a boat that wasn't being used.  Two other families came with us that day, and their kids are in these pictures as well.

There was a paddle board that Andrew and Landon though would be fun.  

However, they proved to be a bit too heavy together.

So, they each took turns and had a great time.

Then we also borrowed this odd canoe like item.  Ryan took turns pushing various kids around in it.  Grant is in the front here.

Claire is in the center on this trip.

After swimming and lunch we went to visit some redwood trees on the way out of the park.

They walked through a tree that had fallen down.

It is so big inside!

A picture at the other end..

We got to see the General Grant tree, the 3rd tallest tree in the world.

The kids had a great time playing on all of the big rocks on the trails.

The tree is so massive, the kids look tiny.

The only down side to the day was the windy road that we had some really close calls with car sickness on.  They all slept really well that night.  As usual, it was a great weekend with cousins.