Weekend BlogLog - July 4th

We decided to head up to our little cabin in Westwood for the weekend like we did last fourth of July weekend. Rick's sister and family met us there like they did last year, and this year my dad came with us. It is a good little tradition we now having going. 

There is nothing better than celebrating the fourth of July in a small town with traditions and parades! Westwood is a great place to be on a Holiday like fourth of July.

Rick and I left after work on Thursday night. Westwood is a small town in northern California in the Lassen National Forest. It takes about 5 hours or so from the bay area (which is one of the reasons we don't go up there very often). 

Friday morning we woke up and had some breakfast and played around. We went to the Subway Caves or Lava Tubes in Lassen National Park which we did last year as well. This year the little boys were "old enough" to go through without crying. They did a great job in the dark.

We also drove around to check out the area and all the different lakes close by. There are several small lakes within a 5 mile radius that are prefect for camping and backpacking. Of course all the lakes are amazingly beautiful - blue, clean water surrounded by tall green trees everywhere. 

In the afternoon we came back and ate dinner at the one and only place in town (town consists of a grocery store, pharmacy, discount store and pizzeria) Buffalo Chips. They have excellent gourmet pizza and we like to give the one local place some business when we are up visiting. We then headed back to the house and played around outside in the backyard. We played a little bocce ball and enjoyed the evening breeze and the fresh air. 

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and headed to Chester a near by town for the town parade. The parade was good but not as good as last year. Of course they tossed out candy to the little kids. I didn't get as much as I did last year, being pregnant and all this year, I wasn't able to run fast enough to get the candy before the little kids got to it all. Bummer - better luck next year! 

After the parade we headed to Lake Almanor which is in Chester and is one of the largest lakes in California. This is the one and only lake Rick and I got pulled over by the water sheriff while in our dinghy. We did not have life jackets with us while on board our "small craft", so they kicked us off the lake. Anyway, we headed to our favorite park along the waters edge. It is a beautiful grassy area with tons of trees and shade, filled with playground equipment and toys like hockey sticks, bad mitton, balls of every kind and more. This park is fully loaded with any and everything you can think of. Ricky and Jeff played around with the boys while Jessie and I enjoyed little Abby and the shade.

After we left the park we went to the Pine Shake Creamery (I think that is the name)  for some of our favorite shakes and fries. I had an orange coconut shake and Ricky had a boysenberry shake, both very delicious. We headed back to the house for a BBQ. Ricky made his famous baked potates, steak, corn on the cob, salad and watermelon. How American is that?

We then enjoy a water balloon fight in the backyard. Unfortunately the pregnant lady had to sit this one out, but I enjoyed watching everyone else get wet. Saturday night we went to Lake Almanor and watched the fireworks over the lake.

 

This picture of TJ is funny. Rick thought it would be a great idea to put a water ballon down Tj's swimsuit so that he could go and sit on his dad's lap and it would break all over him. However, Tj didn't actually make it to his dad before the water balloon break. It is breaking in this picture.

It looks like Jessie lost this battle. 

The next morning we woke up and enjoyed a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns - very delicious. We cleaned up the house a little and then headed to the park in Westwood for lunch. We then headed home.