We all (including the animals) went to Kentucky for the fourth of July. It was a crazy long weekend, so here's an appropriately crazy long post!

There are no pictures of the fireworks, because we watched them from inside our car in the rain. Israel was able to sleep in the back seat through the whole thing, so we were actually able to enjoy the show, which was a pleasant surprise. Our favorite firework: the kind that shoots up in a thick line, bursts into a rather sparse globe, and then each flame shoots into several smaller ones. We also like the ones that shoot out from the center in straight lines and then veer off in random directions.

We had intended to go on our first real camping trip with Israel the next day, but it was SO humid, and all the wood for fire-making was wet from a downpour earlier in the day and there were attacking bugs that ate us, even though we were wearing bug spray.... So after setting up our tent, we went on a nice hike in Red River Gorge and then took down the tent and drove back to my parents' house. But we got a few good pictures out of it anyway.

Our hike started out at the top of a ridge and went down, down, down. This is the "magical fern place" along the way. (Mange, this is the hike we went on together.)

At the bottom of the descent, we all got our toes wet to cool off.

Israel LOVED the water.

Brandon (my brother) and Corey (his friend) loved the water, too.

Conclusion: Israel LOVES nature! We are so glad our little guy can enjoy the great outdoors with us.

Israel was on top of the world after an evening full of adventure.

The next day, Israel suddenly got sick with a fever. It was sad, because his great-aunt and uncle and his great-grandma (Nana) were up to visit. He let them comfort him for awhile and, if he felt a little better, I'm sure he would have said it was good to see them, but he wasn't much for talking that day.

Israel with Nana

Nana, Uncle Doug, Israel, Mom ("Granna" to Israel) and Aunt Shirley.

In other news, Israel is growing like crazy! He communicates quite a bit now. He can wave and say, "Bye, bye" and "dog," and he points and babbles at everything. (Still waiting for "mom" and "dad.") He claps when you cheer and also when he wants everyone in a room to pay attention to him. His laugh is infectious and he will laugh at all kinds of things. He's such a fun little guy to be around!