Medford Oregon

We had such a great time visiting Mark's brother David and his wife Cecily.  They have 5 kids who were so sweet to Jared and Lydia.  We are so glad Jared and Lydia are getting to visit with so many of their cousins. Mark and I got to visit a lot with David and Cecily who are such great people it was a fun low-key visit with lots of swimming, water balloons and playing outside. We spent the 4th of July with them and had a great BBQ and enjoyed some fun fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the morning at the park and then had a flag raising ceremony in the front yard.  Afer naps we went swimming then came back for a BBQ.  Once it got dark enough David set off the fireworks he bought.  Jared has a little exposure to fireworks but Lydia hadn't really seen them and neither had done sparklers so they were excited.  Lydia was more than ready to hold a sparkler but Jared was quite cautious.  We eventually convinced him to try it out and he loved it.  We had our traditional Root Beer Floats after that and then I went to watch a firework display while Mark kindly put Jared and Lydia to bed.  The firework display was done by a private citizen and he put on an incredible 20 minute show. It was in a pretty park and while there was a large crowd it was so much nicer then a city show where parking is a nightmare and its is so crowded.  I really enjoyed it.

David and Cecily's house backs up to a walkway to this great park and we enjoyed playing there.  They live in a really great older neighborhood. One where the trees meet in the middle of the street and the houses all look different from each other. It is exactly the type of neighborhood I would like to live in. I went running while we are there and really enjoyed it. Jared has been wanting to climb trees for a long time but they all have branches too high up. We found the perfect tree for him to climb all by himself.

Jared, Eli, Sophie, Lydia. 

 Luke and Jared racing down the slide

Fun with cousins: Sunday morning Jared and Lydia enjoyed a fort built by their cousins.  They all played in there for a long time while we visited.

Eli and Jared

Cecily is a great pianist and Lydia loved playing with her. 

Learning how to make soda with Uncle David's fancy soda stream.  At this point a burst of air is blown out. I love how Sophie is looking at Jared to see his reaction. 

We just really enjoyed visiting Medford. It was so nice to get to visit with David and Cecily.  We really had a lovely time. Next up: Seattle Washington! And yes, we are getting a bit tired of all this driving and different beds/houses but we have more family to see and besides we still don't have a house to go back too so until then...