Summer Road Trip, Part 3: The Fourth

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than to have a picnic at the beach? We couldn't think of any, so we called up Andrea's brothers and had them meet us at the Sandy Point beach just below the Lucky Peak reservoir dam. We had a fine time.

Anya looked her patriotic best.

The kids get in some quality sand time while we wait for the rest of the crew to arrive. We got to the park early because we knew it would be crowded later. We were right.

The park has a great beach and a nice protected swimming area. The water is separated from the river channel so stays a little warmer, but is still quite 'refreshing'. Miranda, Anya and Mia work on a sand castle while Paxton floats on by.

Little punkin'head Luke was all smiles. Andrea's wide angle lens makes his head look enormous.

The crew, getting ready to enjoy some sandwiches. When all these kids grow up we might have to roast a pig or something to feed them all.

Stuart and Dad find a shady spot to visit.

Cheryl and I find a sunny spot to stuff our faces.

The cool trio; Shanna, Sam and Joel.

Hunter and Kenrick practice the fine art of floating.

Some of us reconvened at Sam's place later that evening to watch the fireworks. First up, a local show hosted by Cooper.

I wanted to get some pictures of the fireworks later that evening, so I practiced a bit on the smaller stuff. In some ways the picture is more impressive than the real thing.

We walked down the road from Sam's place and found a grassy spot to watch the show. The fireworks in Meridian are launched from the local race track, so the view is pretty good from anywhere in the general vicinity.

I put the camera on a tripod and set it so that I could hold the shutter open. I got a few decent shots.

OOohh, saaay can youuu sEEE.....

Happy Birthday America!