Hotter than the Fourth of July

Our 4th was fabulous. A fab fourth, you might say. We started it off by sleeping in just a little and then making it to our ward's breakfast -- pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and so forth. It was very tasty. After we had eaten and chatted and thrown a bit of frisbee, we headed out.

We picked up some ice and hot dogs for our picnic/river trip with Eric, Erin, and Mary (Peter being out of town for his work). They all came over and Mary, Jacob, and I had a devil of a time running all over town to see if we could buy some tubes to float the river with. Eric and Erin had planned ahead and purchased some the day before. No luck at Wal-Mart or Walgreens. I had heard that one could rent a tube and float the river, so we decided to take our chances with that.

First, though, we picnicked up the canyon. It was great -- the quintessential picnic. Hot dogs on a grill, chips, lemonade, cold watermelon, otter pops and even s'mores. Once we were all filled we headed for the river -- since Jacob needed to be to work by 5 p.m.

We found the tube rental place that I had seen online... and didn't like it very much. There was quite a bit of a wait (which we didn't have time for since Jacob had to get back) and tubes cost more than we had expected. We decided instead of renting tubes to just play on the river a bit and maybe try hanging on to the two tubes that Eric and Erin had brought.

We got to the river and though the day outside was scorching hot, the river was freeeeezing! Also, the first attempts to try two to a tube didn't work out so well, so we were glad when someone floated by and threw us one that they had picked up along the wayside. Now there were two for each big tube and a smaller tube for one. Jacob volunteered to go alone, so Eric and Erin shared a tube and Mary and I took the other big one.

What an adventure! We were going pretty well -- we had all managed to bet on the tubes and float a ways, and even to link arms so that we were all together. Then, we hit some shallows. We all managed to stay together and get back in position and formation. But I wasn't very securely on the tube, so when the next shallows hit, disaster struck. I managed to hang on to a tube but not to anyone else. Eric and Erin stayed together on their tube but Jacob was floating away rapidly and so was I -- leaving Mary stranded on the shallow bank. Poor Mary. There was nothing that we could do, the current was too fast.

Well I floated along for a while, and saw that Jacob had grabbed onto a tree and was waiting up for me. We managed to get together, and floated on down the river. We were trying to get our feet up out of the water because they were too too cold. We saw Eric and Erin a couple of times, behind us, but they never caught up. We came up on a big rock, and some silly guys cannonballed right next to us. They tipped Jacob over and he lost his flip flops but they floated right to the surface and we snatched them up. We managed to avoid disaster until we got back to where we had left the car. Of course, Mary had the keys.

We waited up for Eric and Erin, who floated up soon enough, with an extra tube they had picked up along the way. Jacob (the one with shoes, that smart guy) went to the car to see if Mary (who also had shoes) had made it back to the car. He wasn't gone long when we saw her walking on the other side of the river and she swam right over. Jacob came back just then and Eric and Mary went to go get Mary's car which we had left at the beginning of our little tubing expedition.

We came out of it having had fun. We also gained a good tube (Mary took it home) and I got a pretty bad bump on the shin from one of those times in the shallows. It was good times.

Jacob got back just in time for work, but couldn't seem to find his wallet. He took off anyway since he was going to be late. Since the book I've been reading, These is my words: The diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, is due back at the library tomorrow, and since today was a holiday, I dove into it. When Jacob got home at 8 I was close to done, but not close enough that I would finish by 9. At 9 we headed over to Eric and Erin's for rootbeer floats and fireworks. Mary came too and we searched both of their cars for his wallet to no avail. We set off some fireworks and that was fun. Nothin' like playing with fire to get you in the Fourth of July mood!

When the big fireworks show was going we pulled some chairs into the street and watched it. Then we got started on singing patriotic songs as we watched them go off -- Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, and so forth, and Erin and Jacob even gave us the full orchestral version of Stars and Stripes Forever. I think they had both played it in a band at some point, so they were just humming up all of the parts like crazy. It was fun, and nice to watch the fireworks.

I came home and finished the book, I'll post a review soon. Nothing like a good holiday with good family and good friends and a good book. Oh, a few other little joys: Erin had Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense on her bookshelf. Its a great college English text my mom had that I haven't been able to find, and I've been wanting to reread some pieces in it. She let me borrow it. Also, Eric and Erin are for sure coming to my seven peaks bash! I was afraid no one would come. And, while we were over they gave me a birthday present too -- they got several copies of the movie A Walk To Remember for their wedding since there was some trouble with the registry, so Erin put a nice bow on one of the extras and gave it to me. What a sweetie.