Tuesday, July 5, 2011

A Happy Fourth

Oh what a wonderful weekend we had, and a long one at that.  Saturday was Elias’ birthday part which I will blog about but I had a stronger urge to do the 4th first. 

Let’s review the wonderfulness, with pictures.  First, it was a gorgeous day.  Days like today make all the gray days around here worthwhile.  Who am I kidding, I love gray days too though if I didn’t like to hunker down with a good book and a cup of hot tea I might feel differently.  But I digress.

We made last minute plans with a couple from our church to do the 4th at out house.  Zion just about tortured me all day asking when they would come (“How many more minutes?” every FIVE minutes) and finally they did come.  While the older kids dug into the sandbox Elias practiced his Dukes of Hazard skills completely refusing to open the door to get in his little Cozy Coupe – I mean General Lee.

EliasGeneralLee

Zion soon joined us on the patio regaling us with a story of … I’m not exactly sure.  She loves to tell a story but I confess that half the time I have no idea what she’s talking about.  Still, it’s entertaining, she’s downright adorable while doing it.

ZionChattingItUp

RobAtGrillRob grilled hamburgers and jerk chicken for dinner.  Our grill has been getting a lot of use already this year.  Not that I’m complaining.  Might have to let my belt out a little.  Or maybe I should throw in some more Zumba.  Probably the later, huh?  While I contemplate that I’ll just finish these Potato Skins Snack Chips. *sigh*  If only I didn’t love food SO much!

 

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen the kids convinced Tanya to set up Mousetrap.  Which took so long they didn’t really get to play. 

GameTimeJuly4

The kids could not handle knowing there were fireworks in the house any longer so after dinner, yes while it was still daylight, we headed out front to let ours offer.  Our display was meager but what we lacked in KABOOMS and lights we made up for with shear cuteness.  Jacob added more than his fair share by helping to keep Elias in grins and giggles.  Dashing over at random times to make silly noises for him.

EliasJacobJaceToFace

Elias thinks Jacob’s the best thing since sliced bananas.

EliasJacobLaughing

See.  Cute with a capital ‘C’.

Jacob07042011

We started with sparklers.  Come to think of it I think we always do.  Is that normal?

StartingSparklers

GabeSparklerZionSparkler

ZionSparklerTwoJacobSparkler

At some point Ross told us how they used to put smoke bombs in water and I thought “Hey, we have a bucket of water.  Why not?”  So we did.  And it was cool.  It made little smoke filled bubbles.

SmokeBubblesInWater

Zion doesn’t think to much of anything that makes noise.  Nothing we got was very loud but she still hid behind me for part of it.  Not that I’m complaining.  Sometimes it’s nice to be needed.  And cuddled.

ZionHidingJuly4

Elias on the other hand didn’t seem bothered at all.  AT.  ALL.  Not even a little.  He even laughed at some of them.

EliasJuly4

Gideon, to start out with, was simply obsessed with the water bucket we kept on hand.  That should not surprise anyone who knows him.  This is the kid who, when we go to the zoo and wildlife park exclaims loudly “Water!!!” at EVERY habitat that has so much as a puddle, seemingly oblivious to the animals there. 

GideonWaterBucket

He did get a bit overwhelmed after a while, as he also has a tendency to do and told me repeatedly that he was sleepy and needed to go to bed.   At least he didn’t tell me this time that our guests needed to go home. 

GideonHidingOnMe

Gabe was involved with everything.   How fun it is to have kids at such different stages and to have one or two that are getting old enough to enjoy these traditions (even if Gabe and Zion didn’t exactly want to hear my brief lesson on why we celebrate Independence Day). 

Am I a bad mom, though, because one of the funnest parts of the night was laughing at Gabe’s reaction to a firework that took off straight up when he wasn’t expecting it.  It was just so funny.

GabeRocket

And since we were outside in the front I couldn’t resist taking a few shots of my roses.  ‘Cause, oooo, the pink one has open blossoms now.

PinkRoseJuly4

Then we all went inside for doughnuts ‘cause nothing says Independence Day like deep fried dough.  With red and blue icing of course.

Later when we said goodbye to our friends the neighbors really had their fireworks going strong.  Some of them really go all out (which is one of the reasons we don’t) so we lingered and watched and I got some good (or at least I think they’re good) photos.  I strayed from my usual habit of shooting for dark sky with streaks of light and went for a lighter sky and more details in our surroundings.  I love how they turned out.  This one is my favorite.

FireworksOverHouses

But these aren’t so bad either.

FireworksOverHouses2FireworksOverHouses3FireworksOverHouses4

FireworksInRoad

The End!

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