Happy Independence Day!

Last year, I posted about how the Fourth of July is Matt's favorite holiday... and I have to say that I looked forward to the 4th more this year than I ever have before!  We traveled to Inkom, Idaho again this year to celebrate with Matt's extended family (from my count, there were over 50 family members there!).  The 4th was so much fun, with a flag ceremony and program, parade, good food (including homemade rootbeer and a snowcone machine!), and lots of fun activities for everyone.

Kylee waving at a firetruck in the parade.  She got a giant ziplock bag of candy again this year.

Emery getting ready to do a little fishing.

The boys had fun designing water balloon launchers and seeing who could launch a balloon the farthest (Matt's team won, of course!).

I think my favorite part of the holiday weekend, though, was camping.  Matt's grandfather has a couple thousand acres of land not far from his home, so it was fun to have our own private campground.  Matt, Kylee, and I have all been looking forward to camping this summer, and this was our first time out.  Kylee has been especially excited to go fishing.

She had never been before and I wasn't sure how it would go... I personally think fishing is kind of boring.  I mean, you can stand there for hours without catching a thing!  Anyway, Matt's grandpa had stocked the pond on his land, and we went right at the perfect time.  I caught some grasshoppers as bait, and Matt helped Kylee cast her pole.  Within seconds of each cast, Kylee had a fish trying to get the grasshopper.  It was so much fun watching how excited Kylee got (although I think maybe Matt and I were just as excited!)  We were only out there for about 15 minutes and Kylee had already caught three fish!

I love this video... her determination to reel in the fish, her squeals of delight, and dropping the pole to clap at her success!  Don't mind my laughing in the background :-)
Here's a picture of our little "fisher girl".  She's trying to smile, but the fish are a little heavy for her!  We cooked up the fish over the fire for breakfast the next morning... yum!!!

We also had fun shooting, and Matt was in heaven riding dirt bikes and taking Kylee for a ride on the 4-wheeler.  Matt talks to me almost daily about buying dirt bikes, and this weekend won't help that issue!

We're already planning our next camping trip back in Inkom later this month!