4th O' July

Had a great 4th of July! Drove down to Alpine, AZ where we have a cabin in the White Mountains. It's a beautiful place with lots of memories. In all we had 20 or so relatives staying over the weekend. It was a good time. Spent some time fishing, riding 4-wheelers, and playing horseshoes at the cabin. Who would have known horseshoes could be so fun?

On the 4th we went to a parade in Springerville (a small town about 20 min away). It seemed like they cut back on the candy throwing this year (dang economy), but I still had a good time rallying my bro, niece, and nephew to get as much candy as possible. Just a little encouragement and they went darting for it!

After the parade we drove up to St. Johns for the traditional BBQ, except this time we had to pay 5 bucks! It's usually free (again, blaming the economy). They hold races for different age groups at the park and as a kid I got 1st place every year...well, this year I got 2nd. Here is what happened. I entered the 18-29 yr. old race and just before the gun went off half of the guys took off. That took me by suprise so I jolted forward, only to completely lose my footing and fall flat on my face. Yep, I was the only one. I did my best to laugh it off as I walked off the field, defeated. I decided to enter the next race (30 year old and up). I knew I had a slight age advantage, but I HAD to compete. The gun went off and I ended up getting 2nd place. Of course, the family told me that the guy who got first jumped the gun. So, I like to think I got first. Haha. After that we saw the fireworks show in Alpine. The show was pretty weak sauce (have I mentioned the economy yet?) but it was still a good time.