We spent most of our nation's birthday relaxing on the lake with my fam . . .
. . . including Uncle Andrew, who's in town for the holiday.
Daniel aims his water cannon at an unsuspecting victim (he missed).
Anna just thinks it's cool that the plunger slides back and forth.
Failing to catch the vision of hydro-armament, Anna opted to spend the afternoon splashing her feet in the water with Daddy.
Back at the cabin, the adults observed Independence Day by sharing short bios of a few signers of the Declaration of Independence. I chose Stephen Hopkins, who in 1776 was a former governor and state supreme court judge of Rhode Island. He was one of the oldest signers, and his wobbly signature is easy to spot because his hands shook with palsy. As he signed the Declaration, he stated, "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."
While the grown-ups discussed weighty, historic matters, the big kids had more important business to see to: climbing around on rocks and harvesting fruit from Papa's little raspberry bush.