July...???

So its July...or is it? We finally had some good weather for 4th of July (or Independence Day, if you prefer) weekend, but now it is POURING again. Not raining...POURING! This has been the crappiest summer in my history. It has rained for 35 of 40 days...most of them being washouts. The nice days were really nice but the crappy days were really crappy.

OK, I wrote that on Tuesday and it rained on Wednesday also but today, Thursday, was sunny but cool. In the morning it was only 54 degrees. In the afternoon it was maybe low 70s. This is very cool for NH in July. Tomorrow it should be in the upper 70s and we're going to the beach! These pictures from the beach were of the other nice day we had a couple of weeks ago, pictures of our trip to camp over the fourth and our private fireworks show at the camp the night after the fourth. More about that later...so on the fourth we went up to camp with Julie and Sean and the kids. We had a cookout for dinner and then headed into town for fireworks. We went to Zeb's for some candy before the fireworks. The place was wall-to-wall people and overwhelming but quick getting in and out. On the common, a band was playing which kept us busy while we waited and was fun to listen to. Once the show started, we noticed that the fireworks were exploding really low...then one exploded REALLY low and there was a lull for 5-10 minutes when everyone speculated on what had happened. A bunch of people started to leave thinking the show was over when all of a sudden it started back up. There was a weak finale and then it was over. Not worth the trip really. It was a cold night with crappy fireworks but GOOD candy! On Sunday we got up and went for a hike across the street. Molly, Julian, Sean and I headed out onto a soggy, swampy, wet trail. Our shoes got soaked as we hopped over rivers and bogs and the bugs were thick. We made it to the top for a beautiful view. The kids were told that if they could get down without slipping on the wet leaves they would receive a dollar reward. Molly did well on the way down but Julian had two slips that cost him his dollar. Later in the day, after our lobster roll lunch, Julian redeemed himself to Sean by retrieving a beer from the fridge! He was then a dollar richer.

Julian and I headed out in the kayaks in the afternoon each in our own kayak. We could hear the loons calling to each other. There were two close by and another smaller one in the distance. As we headed closer they started "laughing" at us. Back and forth they went. The closer we got the louder and more intense their "laughing." It was funny but weird at the same time. We think the one in the distance might have been the baby to the other two. They were so big and beautiful to look at but they were NOT happy with us interfering with their swim. We had a nice jaunt around the lake and came in and got ready for dinner. We had leftovers from the night before. After dinner the kids roasted marshmallows and played with sparklers and we were all surprised by a fireworks show by some people across the lake which was better including a bigger finale than the one in town. Our holiday was now complete.

The other picture is of Julian and Molly roasting marshmallows at home one crappy cold day. The heat was hurting their eyes which is why they have on their eye protection! LOL.