Pretty much another 4th of July day! In the morning we walked downtown to the Farmer's Market, and brought home a bag of wonderfulness. The baker from La Baguette in Minocqua came down with fresh bread, so we bought a number of small loaves, including a baguette, ciabatta, bacon & cheese loaf, a french loaf, and small pear tart. We also bought a bunch of fresh baby bok choy to make a salad we just call "Angie's salad" afer our friend who first made if for us!
Later in the evening we walked down to the riverfront and brought a blanket and picnic supper of our baguette, apples, havarti cheese (our current favorite), the tart, and leftover pear bread. We found some friends (Allords and Brunners) already camped out at a spot for fireworks, and spread our blanket beside them. The fireworks didn't start until almost 10 pm, but were absolutely fantastic! They touted it as their "largest display ever," and it certainly was that. They did such a good job of getting an incredible variety of fireworks, and obviously decided that bigger was definitely better! Afterwards we walked home, thankful we didn't have to try to escape a parking lot and brave the streets in the car!
This CRAZY recipe comes to us courtesy of Jim & Jenn King. We were at their house for small group this evening, and they shared this little tidbit with us - something Jenn's dad has made for them! Very easy and fun for the whole family (if you want to be on sugar highs for the next week!). 
Just take a glazed donut - preferably at least a day old (we used one from Kwik Trip - on sale) and slice it half. Butter the cut side (here's the funny part - we used "Take Control" cholesterol-reducing butter spread!), and toast it like a grilled cheese sandwich. 
We decided to kick it up a notch by adding jelly on one half and cinnamon sugar on another. Hmmm... verdict? Weird. The edges actually crisp up a bit and the sugar caramelizes just a little, but then the sugar hits you right between the eyes and makes any intelligent thought vanish. 
Was it good - sure! It was a toasted donut! Will we ever do this again in our lives? Heck no! This was purely to make your day, Jenn!!
This morning we drove up to Weston for the opening of their new skate park where Justin's brother Luke was up to be a part of the demonstration team. Justin & Luke's dad John was one of the people to encourage the town to build a high quality, challenging park that skaters would be able to enjoy and use for many years. He was often the one taking 
Luke and his friends to skate parks around the area and saw some good ones and many bad ones. This new one is all concrete, with deep bowls, rails and edges. Lots of people turned out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening, young and old alike. 
While my summer projects include lots of painting (fence, rooms, etc), Justin is working at rewiring our theater upstairs. When we moved in he put in a great home theater. He has since found some higher quality cables (for speakers, the projector, amp and other equipment), and wanted to do it in a way that all the wires were within the ceiling or walls, rather than in tracks along the outside of the walls. So, rather than head out for a walk this evening, he has been climbing up and down in the crawlspace and I have been helping feed wires through one hole in the ceiling or another. 
He really is working hard to do the best job possible, and hopefully the end result will be something he is very pleased with. I am very willing to clean up the insulation particles that have flown around the room in appreciation for all his hard work!
Almost all the kids and grandkids were there - only Travis (in Texas) and Luke (in Madison) weren't able to be there. The weather was beautiful and perfect for a cookout and visiting outside. The adult children did a special song for their parents, and the little kids also did a fun praise song. There was also a funny poem by Rachel, a devotional time by Abe and Sarah put together some older and new photos into a touching slideshow of their marriage. Jonathan then put together a scavenger hunt with clues for them to find their gift from everyone (a gift certificate for massages). 
