July 3 & 4

The S family invited the kids and I up to Grandma Z's house in Tower for the 4th holiday. We packed into their new vehicle and headed north. I got to sit between these two adorable girls.





And these two rascals took the back.


After arriving and getting settled, we went to a local park to let the kids burn off some energy. C was awesome an have the kids underdogs!








And J read the girls a bedtime story from his iPad.


This morning C and I ran Tower's 10k race! I've certainly run plenty of 10ks, but this was my first time doing this distance in a race. It went ok--faster pace than the half, which was good. Even though the race started at 8am, it got hot pretty quickly.

The kids were all decked out in patriotic colors.


The parade was petty impressive. The kids were excited to get candy.





While waiting for the next activity, the kids humored me and let me snap a few pictures.





Such attitude!


And this one absolutely kills me! What's gonna happens when these two are teenagers?!


They had a sawdust pile with coins hidden in them. It was fun watching the kids search and find the coins!





The kids also participated in the kiddie races. Piper wasn't sure about participating, but did with C's coaxing.


She did it!





After a great lunch of hamburgers and corn on the cob that Grandma Z made, we got our suits on and headed to one of lake Vermilion's many beaches. I realized I didn't take any pictures. Must mean we were having too much fun, right?!

After packing up the vehicle, we are now making our was back to Duluth. No less than 5 minutes into the ride, here's what I was sitting between!


A sign of a great day!! I'm so grateful that the S family let us tag along and that Grandma Z opened her house to us. I'd go back in a heartbeat!