Fourth of July

For the first time, we've been able to make our annual 4th of July fruit tart flag using only fruit from our own yard! Those are blueberries and black raspberries for the stars and the stripes are red raspberries and sour cherries (you can't grow sweet cherries where we live - *just* too cold in the winters - but this variety is considered "the sweetest of the sour cherries" so they're edible right from the tree...as long as you're expecting a tart treat! Thankfully all of our kids (who eat food) are accustomed to less rather than more sugar, so they will all happily eat these right off the tree).

 The Fourth of July has always been a big deal for our kids. We have a few years' running tradition of inviting our neighbor/cousins, S & S, over (one Matt's dad's generation and one Matt's generation) for the afternoon and evening, just this year it's without fireworks.

We started off with red, white, and blue water balloons, with Dad as the target.

Reuben's sneaking up on Dad. (It was hot. Pants were optional for certain children who don't regulate temp well - we live in a fairly secluded yard for being in a first-ring suburb!)

A whole crew busy loading up - the sled is full of balloons. Krassi loves this! His favorite method is simply to squeeze each balloon until it explodes in his hands!

You'll notice there's no Bobbi. 😒 Some days "family" is a little too much! (Yes, that's partly just teenager and partly that she's kind of all or nothing and doesn't want to have to share her time with S & S with her siblings!) And partly, it was REALLY hot, and she's got a pretty decent bedroom on the north side of the main level that doesn't get as hot as much of the rest of the house does! But still, we missed her. And Mira, who had other plans for the weekend...

We followed up the excitement with hot dogs, guacamole, and other goodies (including rhubarb crisp that S made with our rhubarb) and instead of fireworks, watched...Anne of Green Gables!!