Happy 4th of July!

It is so nice to have Calvin solidly home with us again.  However, he is working hard and getting full time hours in at the local pool.  He says that it is primarily boring but he likes the money and his co-workers!

Max was sick for most of the week with some summer time virus, so we laid pretty low.  Fortunately, the work week was short and Josh had a three day weekend to enjoy!  My sister and her family came over to see our new house and town and to celebrate the 4th with us.  On Friday evening, we spent a very pleasant, adult evening out in the nearby village of Chagrin Falls.  We enjoyed walking around the bustling little town and then a wonderful dinner with a gorgeous view of the falls.

Saturday morning, several of us headed out to the nearby nature preserve for a 5 1/2 mile hike.  Sarah claimed that the entire thing was all up hill (and claimed that I didn't warn her about the hills that we have in this part of the state), but I think that is quite impossible.  We did have a very nice, vigorous hike and even forged a few streams.

We then had a nice, lazy lunch and early afternoon before loading up the cars and heading to the beach on Lake Erie.

The weather was perfect and the beach was not nearly as crowded as we expected!  We spent a lot of time lounging around for the rest of the day while the kids played some serious board games and corn hole.

By the time dusk rolled around, we were all feeling too comfortable and lazy to head into town for the fireworks so we built a roaring fire and had a great time making s'mores and pudgy pies.

The next morning and early afternoon led to more laziness and games until the Epples headed back home.  I was then able to rouse Josh enough to head out with our bikes to explore the O&E towpath.  We rode a great 15 miles though some beautiful scenery before calling it quits and heading home.

Quincy had a great 4th of July celebration with his camp crew.  The camp bussed everyone to Lake Michigan for the day where they played on the beach, watched fireworks and enjoyed some live bands.  He said it was great fun.

Tabitha also enjoyed some summer time fun with her first swim in the Baltic Sea.  Sweden enjoyed some beautiful weather this weekend so she had a great time hanging out with her little family and playing the Swedish version of corn hole, Kubb.

Max is finally feeling better today so we can get back to our normal routine.  Tonight, we finally got around to having a birthday cake to celebrate Calvin's 16th birthday!  Delicious!