Today was the Fourth of July, so naturally we had to celebrate it. Especially since it is Allyssa’s first. After a bit of a sleep in for Allyssa and mommy, we proceeded on with making plans for the day.

We started with a trip to Festival Foods in Holmen, and a stop at Subway on the corner. And while Allyssa had some buffet before we left, she decided it was time for more while we were at Subway. Naturally she was taken care of quickly.

From there we proceeded to Perrot State Park. It’s a good thing that we purchased a yearly pass to the park. We have been there many times since we did. It’s a nice place to go and just enjoy nature.

While at the park we stopped at our preferred stop, and enjoyed nature. We did get out one of our new pop-up canopies (or shade fly) simply because it’s a more even shade then one gets through trees and we can control were the falls.

We had our lunch at the park, and naturally Allyssa decided it she wanted some luncheon as well. With the heat I’m actually glad she did decide she was hungry, since then I knew she would stay hydrated.

We stay at the park for approximately a couple of hours, and just enjoyed it. Then we decided to head home for a bit and cool off again. Once we were home, daddy decided he needed a nap so he had one of those.

We went to see the Fireworks display at Galesville. While we had recalled seeing information on it in the local paper, when we went to look for more specific information it was in the recycling we had taken out the day before. Since daddy wasn’t sure of the details any longer this sent him on a web search for information and verification that they were actually having fireworks.

After a bit of trouble finding specifics Shane finally did find some information on celebration being held in Galesville. So we went to the park in Galesville, and ended up with front row seats for the display. It started sprinkling shortly before the show started, but it didn’t sprinkle hard for long.

Allyssa did wonderfully watching the fireworks. There was one point after they had several extremely loud boomers one on top of another that she didn’t like the noise. But other than that she enjoyed the colorful light show just like her mom and dad.

Shane has already said that he doesn’t want to go back to Riverfest Fireworks shows. Too crowded, and the displays are smaller than they used to be. And with how much we enjoyed the show at Galesville, there is no reason to go back to Riverfest and deal with their crowds.

We live perhaps five miles from Perrot Sate Park. Because of this as a family we decided that it just made sense to purchase an annual state park pass, which we have done (ok we did that today, but still). Today when we wanted to get out of the house for a bit we decided that Perrot was the place to go.

While we were driving through the park today, part of our goal was to walk one of the trails there. A nice way to enjoy the woods, learn something from the markers the park rangers have placed, and receive some exercise. We walked the Black Walnut Trail which is only a 1/2 mile but it was hilly. I carried Allyssa in the sling that Jean had made for me.

It was good exercise, and then later we walked part of the River’s Edge trail, and between the two of them it was enough exercise for the day.

In between walking the two trails, though we decided that it would be great to have a picnic in the park. So we went home and picked up what we needed. Shane has had a small portable gas grill for years, but we haven’t used it much even though in the past he had often used it. We had hotdogs and buns on hand, so with some chips we had something reasonable to eat.

While we didn’t have much for ice packs at the time, we had a empty Juicy Juice jug which we put water in and took some other juices to drink as well. With all of this it made a nice relaxing picnic at the park. Shane even found a frisby which we threw around for a bit.

After walking the trails, we also found a spot to park where we could watch the tracks to see trains go by on this side of the river. While it’s not the perfect spot (no shade), it is a spot where you can see the tracks easily. We are still going to have to look to find a place that is both shady and a good view of the tracks.

Since we’ve decided that we need to go picnicing more often we have taken empty (juice) containers filled them partically with water and frozen them. When we are ready to fill the cooler, we top them off with water, and then we are able to both keep things cold, and have fresh water to drink.

As for Allyssa, she seemed to enjoy the park just fine. She definitely enjoyed her meals there, and was awake part of the time.