Happy 4th!

This is a busy week at work, hanging our big summer show yesterday with our reception tomorrow night, so it was nice to have an extra day off in the middle of things to hang out with the family. My parents are in town to watch Sam the next few days while daycare is closed and to stay with her over the weekend while we are at Jamie and Kate's wedding, so they were around today too, which was fun!

We started out the door over at Wolfe's Neck Farm, visiting with the animals, although Sam wasn't nearly as enthused about it as she was during the Team Burphy event last week. After a snack under the tent and a walk through the garden, we headed out back to walk on the farm trails. They have created a decent loop that wanders out through the woods and down along the salt water marshes. Sam walked her longest hiked yet - probably a mile - on the twisty, turny, rolling singletrack and did great! Towards the end, she had to be spurred on with drinks of cold water from Neenie's water bottle and cheddar bunnies, but hey, I like drinks and snacks during my endurance events too :-)

After our long walk, we were all ready for lunch so we hit Broadway Deli on the way home. Pancakes are always a good refueling food! While Sam napped, I headed out for my run, doing the Homeplace loop at 1:30pm. Yup, it was hot and the air was super heavy, but there was a nice breeze that kept the bugs at bay. I stopped a few times to snack on the low bush blueberries, and enjoyed the heady scent of the ferns and milkweed in the air. There were lots of butterflies flitting about, the towhee and cardinals were singing, and along the old dirt road that makes up part of the Mt. Ararat loop portion of this loop, I saw what I think was likely an Indigo Bunting. It was perched atop the highest tree around, singing brightly and although the light was at a bad angle, it just looked blue, and the song seemed right. Can't be sure though, but it seems likely. Also picked up a very cool hawk feather while I was stopped for blueberries on the return along the powerlines.

When I got back home, Kristen and Morgan had already arrived for an afternoon visit and early dinner. The girls had fun playing, and we enjoyed a good summer meal of sausages on the grill, quinoa black bean salad, potato salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum! The perfect holiday!