for our first 4th of july here in colorado, we spent the morning hiking at the bluffs regional park which is right by our house. it's about a 3 mile trail that loops around a plateau with some really great views of downtown and the surrounding areas. on a really clear day, you can see all the way to DIA (airport). unfortunately there was very little wind that morning and it was just too smoggy. but, we did have our first rattlesnake encounter (i hear the bluffs is filled with them, yuck). W insisted on taking a picture. i was mortified.



the city of lone tree had a big fireworks display at the park near our house, but it was rained out. just as the weather ppl said, the rain started coming down around 8pm, as we were leaving C&C's house. as we got to our house, you could see all the ppl running to their cars. they rescheduled the fireworks for the 5th, and lucky us, we only had to go as far as our deck to watch them. :)

it's been raining a lot here, which we're so not used to in the summer! you really have to schedule your whole day around the afternoon thunderstorms. it usually doesn't rain that much, but since last sunday, it's been pouring!! but only in the evenings. so strange... last sunday, it even hailed a little. none of that golf ball sized stuff, just the little pea sized stuff.