4th of July

As is our tradition, we went to America's Heartland for 4th of July. We stopped off in Columbus first, for a visit with Ben & Kirsten, and of course, a stop at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.

Black-eyed Susans at a Virginia rest-stop


Helping Kirsten water the herb garden


Playing piano with Ben




From there, we went on to Willoughby to see the Miracle clan at Uncle Tim & Aunt Colleen's annual picnic. Charlie got to hang out with his cousin Ryan, who is 18 months older and therefore much worldlier with much cooler toys.

Checking the temperature of Uncle Tim's pool (verdict: freezing)


Scarfing down Tim's jambalaya


Feeding Aunt Lauren a blueberry


Who needs fireworks when Grandpa wears this shirt?


The Emperor Charles feasts on grapes


We weren't entirely sure how the fireworks would go over - but he loved them. So much so, that we had a running color commentary for the entire 30 minutes: "Mommy, look at that colorful one! Daddy, did you see the colorful one? The colorful ones are my favorite. Which ones do you like, Mommy? Mommy, you like the sparkly ones. They look like glitter! Ooh, look, another colorful one!" Evan shot some video of this, and in 10 minutes, I think he said "colorful" 23 times.