The Best 4th of July EVER!

 It has now been nearly 4 months since Covid has disrupted life as we know it. We have basically been quarantined for all of it. No friends coming over to play, no singing or exercise group, no church, no restaurants, nothing. We really just needed something that felt normal. We decided to head to Idaho to spend the 4th of July with family. While covid has been less of a problem in Idaho, all of the cities still cancelled their 4th of July festivities, which was a disappointment. We weren't going to let it ruin our holiday though. We decided that we would recreate our traditional Melba 4th of July at home. We started planning a few weeks in advance and came up with a fun schedule of activities for the week. 

We started the fun week off with sturgeon fishing. We did this a few years ago, but it was so much fun that we decided to do it again. We went to a private pond out in Parma called Schwartz Sturgeon Pond. The man who owns it stocks the ponds with sturgeon of every size imaginable and rents out the fishing poles. It is a little bit expensive, but it is such a fun experience. We got there at about 8:00 in the morning and fished into the afternoon. Everyone caught multiple fish, some little and some huge. I had so much fun. In the end, I caught 20 sturgeon! The kids caught a bunch too, but by about noon, they were ready to go home. Jonathon took them home and let me stay with my dad, brothers, and sister to catch some more. 

That night we got all cleaned up and took some family pictures. I was responsible for them and had a bit of a problem with the shadows. That was frustrating, but after a bunch of editing, I got them to an acceptable point. 

The next day was the 4th of July. Everybody worked together to make it the best day ever! It was seriously so much fun. I don't know that we will ever want to go back to Melba again because ours was so much better.

It started with a Fun Run in the morning. Most of us just walked a mile with the kids. But some of the adults, including Jonathon, Matt, and Katie, ran the 2 miles.

 

After the run, all the adults got ready for the kid's carnival. We asked each family to be in charge of one carnival activity. The kids got to go to each of the different booths and play the games for tickets. We had a fishing pond, Plinko, a Nerf gun shooting game, siphon tube setting, face painting, a 3-legged race, wheel barrow races, and a family gunnysack race. When it was all done, the kids got to spend their tickets on fun prizes that were left over from Kindergarten or that Grandma picked up at various yard sales. The kids had the best time.

 

 

I was wondering how the siphon tube contest was going to work, but it was the highlight of the whole carnival. Ben and Bryant taught all the kids how to set the siphon tubes using a big watering tub set up at the edge of the lawn. Some of the little guys had never done it before, so they were especially excited to learn. Then the adults competed for the best time. Ben was the champ, which isn't surprising since he sets so many tubes on a daily basis. Christian and Jonathon did it too. They were significantly slower, but I was impressed that they could even set them in the first place.

After the carnival we prepared for a carnival-style lunch. Jonathon smoked turkey legs on the Traeger, I made seasoned curly fries and corn dogs, Claire and Katie made the most heavenly scones, and everyone else chipped in with something fun to eat. It was all delish!

 

We left a few hours after lunch for naps. Then we brought out the waterslide for the kids. After dinner, Uncle Roger's family (all his kids, their spouses, and his grandkids) came down for yard games. Daniel turned on some music, and we played out in the yard all evening. We had a corn hole tournament (Dan and Claire won), ate homemade ice cream and brownies, and played volleyball. When it finally got dark around 10 pm, we sat on the front lawn and watched fireworks put on by Joe, Ben, Dan, and Bryant. Everyone contributed to help pay for the fireworks, and it was an awesome show. After being quarantined for so long, it was pretty much the most magical day ever! 

 

Throughout the rest of the time we were in Idaho, we went fishing at the Snake River, let the kids take apart a bunch of old electronics, did some water color painting with Hannah as our teacher, decorated sugar cookies with the kids, and so much more. By the time we left, my soul was filled, and I was emotionally ready to go back home and endure whatever else coronavirus would bring. I am so grateful for the time we got to spend on the farm with family.