Our July 4 Weekend

I am ridiculously late in updating this blog, mostly because of the fun summer activities that have kept us delightfully busy. Independence Day weekend was a blast, as we were invited to Dennis's cousin's house in State College, PA. I made two pies to take down to the event- the apple pie survived the journey fairly well, but the fresh strawberry pie didn't fare as well- turns out "fresh" pies should really be eaten right away!

Penn State has a great 4th of July celebration, replete with a carnival and a huge fireworks display at night. We went to the carnival first, enjoying the rides and activities.

Matthew was in seventh heaven with the kettle corn. The best thing about this day was the three older cousins who were able to keep Matt from wandering off. Riley would hold out the bag of kettle corn, and Matt would trot along, trying to reach his hand inside the bag.

We looked at an assortment of military vehicles and Nolan really enjoyed hanging out in the Hummer. There must be a "truck gene" somewhere on the Y chromosome.


There were several activities set up for the kids, and Matt tried his hand at being a football player, made a necklace (a manly one, of course), and raced a remote-controlled car.



After all the daytime festivities, we settled in to watch an amazing fireworks display. Matt crashed at about 7:30pm, and we were afraid he might miss the fun. Fortunately, he woke up in time to roll down the enormous grassy hill by the stadium and to watch the fireworks.

We stayed the night and left the next day. We were so sad to say goodbye to fun cousins and the delicious Berkey Creamery. If I lived in State College, I believe I would weigh at least 800 pounds from the ice cream dispensed there! Matthew asks to go back to "Cousin Austin's" house at least once per week- he sure misses his big cousins!