Small Town 4th of July

 Christmas and Easter have always had a special place in my heart; however, ever since we started homeschooling and I dove into studying American History headlong, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July have also taken on special significance for me.  Our Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation will be to be pretty tough to match, but there are lots of places that are fun to celebrate the 4th of July.  For instance, we've already been to the Capital Fourth Program in Washington D.C., and the fireworks show over the St. Louis arch ranked second in the nation all three years we watched it.  Someday we would like to go to Philadelphia and see the show over Independence Hall.  We'd also like to attend the show over one of America's favorite monuments of freedom--the Statue of Liberty. This year; however, we went for something a little more sentimental, and celebrated the 4th in true Hoskins' style--at the cabin and down in Huntsville, Utah.

 

Our adventures at the cabin began with Spencer's birthday party on the 1st. Then on the 2nd and 3rd we squeezed in some four-wheeling and boating,

 

 

 

hiking,

 

and cooking out.
 

Then, on the evening of the 3rd, all of the Hoskins cousins had a cabin-style slumber party.  The next morning they woke early and were delighted to be treated to some 4th of July pancakes (pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, and cream) made by none other than Grandpa Hoskins.

 

After breakfast we drove into Huntsville for the famous Huntsville parade, which the kids simply loved.  (It really was famous this year.  The Obama Farewell Express float made it onto Fox News that night!)

Then we attended the Huntsville Day Fair, went back to the cabin for lunch, and then reconvened in the evening back in the Huntsville Square for a family dance party and social.  The kids went crazy up on the stage!  We were almost deaf after dancing for hours next to the speakers, but hey, what's being able to hear compared with all of the fun! 

The dance party was followed by a small town fireworks display, and then we drove back up the canyon and tucked four sleeping kids into their beds up in the cabin loft.

 It was a long day, but as Daddy and Grandpa are flying out to Minnesota in just over 36 hours, we had to live it up while we still had the chance.