Since our 4th of July really started on the 3rd, we must be making a habit of early celebrations. The 4th of July was always a big family day growing up and one of the few holidays we make a point of celebrating with my family on the right day (ish) not a week later or early as is the case with Thanksgiving or Christmas. So, we headed not quite directly from the Kite Festival last weekend to Hermiston then Pendleton area this weekend to be all together for Independence Day. The 2nd after Caleb’s fifth grade state testing we headed to Irrigon, just out side of Hermiston on the Columbia River. Getting in around dinner time, plenty early enough to enjoy mom and dad’s 106 degree heat. It really wasn’t that bad on the back porch with the sprinklers going to water the yard, and by 10:30 it had cooled down enough to alow for sleep given a fan and light sheet were available. The third started early for the kids and grandma and grandpa. I’m not even sure how early they woke up, but they were already elbow deep in a brick cutting project for the front yard when Chad and I woke up at 8:00AM. Showers, oatmeal, and packing up the car came next followed by the last leg of the drive into Pendleton. We had popcorn and blackberry smoothie drinks for lunch at Suzanne’s and then headed to the Pendleton Reservation. For the free first Fridays at the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute. They had a traveling exhibit on Alcatraz (I didn’t know of the connection between Alcatraz and the Native American people until now) as well and many more exhibits on the local tribes.
We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum.
I love this new magnet we got for the fridge. It is hard to battle the attitude of entitlement that is so pervasive in our society right now, so it sets our children up for unhappy, unsatisfied lives.
Next we stopped off at the Pendleton Woolen Mill, they were having a sale for the holidays and had a ton of really beautiful blankets. Hard to resist the temptation until you think, seriously, we don’t have room for stuff. The bare minimum, and nothing else….there is something freeing about that.
After the woolen mill we decided DQ for dinner would have to work, it was kind of hot for cooking anything and the BBQ food was for Saturday besides that Grandpa Sherman had been given a gift card for DQ and was eager to treat all the little ones to ice cream. As it was we ended up eating our dinner and getting two boxes of dilly bars, gifted by grandpa, to go and eat while testing our Aunt Suzanne’s ginormous slip and slide!!!
We closed down the slip and slide and got dressed in our PJs in time for the Pendleton Fire Works. I love love love fireworks and for me the closer the better. You should feel the vibration and hear the crackles. I was kind of disappointed when we found ourselves up on the side of the hill not all that close to the action. Especially since I worked the last Fourth of July and completely missed the fireworks. But all that was alleviated when the fireworks started. Pendleton is shaped like a bowl with the fire works being let off at the bottom. We could still hear them just fine.
As Chris, Uncle Jeremy’s brother said to the kids as we were watching the fireworks, “This is the best 3rd of July ever!”
Owens Endeavors 