Blanding for the 4th 2013

Blanding for the fourth, I say it every year...it is fun!
We treated it like a vacation and spent Monday -Saturday in Blanding.



We stopped in Moab, Utah for dinner on the way to Blanding.

Trip advisor advised well.

A little construction on the way...

 Blanding has a great pool. Trev, Zac and I squirted each other. Gage loved "swimming", and Jenna liked hanging out in the deep end with the bigger kids. They wanted to go everyday. We went Tuesday and Wednesday.

Blanding Pool

I had a squirter too. It was fun playing with the kids.

haha. I love this picture. Zac actually really used the snorkel and did well with it.

 Wednesday evening, once much of Steve's extended family arrived for the "Blanding 4th celebration at Scot & Julene's", Julene had a fun activity planned. We all (maybe 15-20 of us) had to package a raw egg knowing that we were going to drop it 20 feet. Julene provided tape, bubble wrap, cardboard, plastic bags, and other items to use. The idea was to package them well enough that they would not crack. It was fun. About half cracked and the other half survived. (Jenna and Grandma Broderick worked together and were successful! Gage's cracked and he was talking about it for days later!  He said, sadly, "I broke my egg."

About to drop some eggs

 On July 4th, Steve woke  up bright and early and ran the 5K race. He beat his goal time that he has been training for. I was happy for him.
Then, we went to the parade. I love their parade. They threw candy and sprayed the crowd with water. 
 After lunch, we went to throw rocks and play at the 4th Reservoir.
We returned home for Navajo tacos, then went to the fireworks in the park that night.
After the fireworks, Steve took some of his cousins and some younger kiddos to Recapture to catch crawdads for the crawdad boil. They weren't as successful this year, but got about 30.


The 4th Reservoir

 There is music in the park and then fireworks at 10 pm. We lay out blankets and have camp chairs there. Julene always provides glow tubes for the kids. They love being with the extended family, playing and visiting, listening to music. It is always a nice firework display too.

Waiting on the fireworks

On Friday, we had Karen and Allan's waffles and then were treated by Ryan, who is a chef, to crawdads, dipped in garlic butter.

Gage would just assume play with the crawdad once he knew it was not alive

Zac ate the meat and then it became a science project. Yuck!

After that, we painstakingly were able  to get a hold of some kayaks from an outfitter in town. In the end, it was well worth any trouble to get them. We had a great time with the kayaks.


We rented some kayaks for the afternoon on Recapture dam.

Sunny was an unbelievable swimmer!

Kayak King Zac

Funny face

Waiting out the rain...
 

 After dinner from the Patio, we played for a bit, then lit off our own fireworks! Following fireworks, Julene watched the kids so Steve and I could go out with good friends sans kids. We talked at the restaurant until it closed, then stood in the parking lot until 1 am talking. My abs hurt the next day from laughing so much!

Fireworks at Grandmas

 

 

I didn't get any pictures, but Steve went fishing Tues, Weds, and Friday morning with his dad in the boat. Steve thoroughly enjoys that time. Notably, Zac caught 2 fish with 1 bait. Impressive, but no picture. It is a great fish story though!
Other things that the we enjoyed were food and games.
The kids especially enjoyed just being with the cousins. They had a great time!
I wish I would have gotten more pictures with the extended family. They made it fun!
Thank you Scot and Julene!


Games! The older cousins are terrific with the little ones.