I heart the 4th of July

We have had a fabulous 1,2,3,4,.....yeah, 4 days! The actual 4th was a very lowkey day for us. It was great to stay home for a bit though. Dad was home so he got to spend some time relaxing with us.

We did alot of this...

and this...



Ross' grandchildren came over and played. Good for me, the kids were entertained. Come to think of it, I barely saw them until that night. Kendal dissapeared early to join the "menfolk" in the garden. Then she talked the Indian's wife to cook her pancakes. Not bluebaby, plain....I don't like bluebaby. She came home around 1pm , when I sent DH off to get her on the 4wheeler. So of course the kids all decided to come do slip and slide. That got old after awhile....or maybe they had enough scratches and bruises to quit. They were ready to come inside for video games, but I assured them that the world would not come to an end if we went one day without. So they hung their heads and went to the tree house and the trampoline. (Poor deprived kids) Before I knew it we heard alot of shouting....not to be worried though it was a simple game of spies. A little cops and robbers too. Kendal had a gun. The boys had badges. Its amazing the things they come up with when there is NOTHING to do! I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get the water hose and start filling up water balloons......Turns out it was. DH and I got 3 or 4 in hand(wish I could have had the camera too) and snuck around the house for the secret ambush. The looks on their faces was priceless! They chased us around the house and were ready for war. So we filled up the entire bucket with balloons...



I put the boys on one side, girls on the other. They could fight it out!




Eventually the balloons ran out and Kendal grabbed the bucket and dumped it on Rye.....she is a thinker!

Soon all the kids dispersed and it was time to eat. #1 thing to do on the 4th? Cook out! Um yes please. I finally got Ryley a Watermelon. It was our first one of the year.


It was worth the wait.....See I have this belief that you should never buy a watermelon until the 4th of July. Its just not any good before then. They need time. Time for Summer to really set in. Time to ripen to their full flavor. You can't just jump in and grap one in May. Its not TIME.....




We also ate a bunch of this

And all together to much of this.....(but good decorating daughter!)


So all we had to do was wait for the lights to go off and we could shoot the fireworks. DH and I had spent some time (and money) in Mentone getting the precise mixture of entertainment for the night. That and we had a bunch left over from last year.

So we set the mood with this.....



Then we set the yard on fire. Minor setback....no one was hurt, but Dad did go get the fire extinguisher.(He is so paranoid) We gave Ryley and Kendal a sparker. One of the really long ones. If you get a chance to buy these...pass. They are really dangerous. Chris flung hot ash in K's eye with one. Wait, I said no one got hurt. Well almost no one got hurt. A cold water bottle poured into the eye and a teddy bear later...we were fine.

She did decide to sit the rest of the night out though. Can you blame her?

Ryley did not though....



And K got excited about the smarshsmallows. Who doesnt?



We stuffed ourselves(read...I stuffed myself) with smarshsmallows, watched the bats, put out the minor fire, and were set for the show. DH and his assistant were ready to perform.

Everybody now....


ooohhhhhh.........


ahhhhhhhh........
My camera sucks at taking photos of fireworks......
Somehow it did not compare to the two previous nights.....not sure what we forgot......

All though I do have to give props to the people that make the smiley face firecrackers....good job you....but how do you get them right side up? They were frowning at us.....Still good job you. Also props to the people that make the country music box and the hip hop box. Excellent, excellent. Are you the same people... Are there different firework maker people.. Anyway props, those were the favorites. Boom, Boom, Pow

Also thanks to the rain gods, Or was Ross out there doing a rain dance again....You never can be sure with these type of neighbors. Indians. sheesh. Got a dance for everything. Sill it worked. Thank you. We needed it after all the fireworks. I thought for sure we were going to set the house across the road on fire. Not me, Dh....and his bad sense of direction. Of course the house is abandoned and all that, but still someone might of cared. Of course with all that rain came a little bit of stuppidty. Such as DH leaving the entire box of bottle rockets(unshot) in the yard. To his defense he had no idea that the rain dance was going on next door. STill that would have been some fun entertainment for another day.....or we could have saved them(only to forget about them) for next year!

Cheers ! Happy 4th! (Well technically now its the 5th)