July 4th fun

Waiting to go off the diving board.

Ben and Matt in the blow up pool.

Ben "monkeying" around the edge of the pool.

Chicken Annies for dinner.

We left July 3rd to meet up with our friends Scott and Jennifer and their sons, Joey and Matt in Pittsburg, KS where Scott's parents live. When we got there it was cloudy and rainy. They boys went swimming for a short time, while Jennifer and I hit the "mall." We rain cleared later in the afternoon, just in time to go eat at Chicken Annies. Apparently this restaurant is in an online competition on the travel channel, and is known all around for their fried chicken. The kids mostly liked the clucking chicken which in exchange for a quarter, would lay an egg filled with a little goodie (read junk). We went back to the Hudson's house and "shot off" a few dollars worth of fireworks that had been purchased when Jennifer and I were at the mall. The boys loved them, as did the bigger boys.

We spent the night in Joplin, MO at a very nice Hampton Inn. The Hudsons came to Joplin to meet up with us for lunch, and more shopping at the Joplin Mall while the boys found a shop that had inflatable bouncy things.

We returned to Pittsburg for a little swimming, then returned home, hitting just a small patch of thunderstorms. Unfortunately there was not enough rain in Wichita to keep our neighbors from shooting off 3 hours of illegal fireworks. Neither of the boys were able to sleep through all the noise, so we ended up not going to bed until close to midnight. Last year we spent the 4th of July with my Uncle Hugh at the monastery where it was delightfully quiet. That might be our plan for next year!

Sam jumping off the diving board.