4th of July 2011

This year for the 4th of July we had our usual visitors from Texas.  Spen's 2 aunts come and stay with us every year.  We love it.  The kids look forward to it and can't wait to see them.  They plan out all of the fun we will have and everything that we will eat together.  It's perfect.  This year was a bit different because of the strange chilly/rainy weather.  That is not normal for where we live.  We still had our water fights, but it was different watching the fireworks in the rain!  Ezra was tired after the long day of fun and staying up late for it to get dark enough for fireworks!~

Firework time started out to be lovely, but we aborted when the rain came thinking that we could just have another night of fireworks the next night.  My parents and my Grandma came over to join us.  My kids love that part too.

Every year the firework shopping gets more and more extreme.  They are so much fun and almost doubled what they bought last year! 

I was sure Mason would freak out with the loud noises and flashing lights.  I honestly thought we'd have seizure issues with some of the fireworks, but I think that we can safely say that the 4th of July and firework part specifically is Mason's favorite holiday.  He LOVED it.  We had to slow it down and take a break for the little man to breathe.  He couldn't catch his breath he was laughing so hard.  It was adorable and more fun to watch than the fireworks!

Ezra loved the glow sticks (light savers), and the poppy things before the show started.  He was a bit nervous for the fireworks, but as long as he was safely held on a lap he was OK.  When the rain started he was the first one out of there!

Victoria had a hard time understanding why we kept making her do all of these weird things on such a random day.  She resisted (are we really shocked) doing much of anything, but after some friendly pressure she joined in and had fun.  I keep hoping that she will willingly join in the fun and even maybe initiate some of it once in a while rather than fighting us, but it's still too soon for that sort of thing I suppose!  She thought it was quite strange that we were lining up our chairs on the sidewalk to look at the road, but complied and was thrilled at the result.  She had a lot of fun and even thought the rain was a fun touch.  We we soaked by the time we came inside.

Ethan is my kiddo who I can count on to be excited for whatever we are doing.  1 out of 4 could use some improvement, but I think time will do just that.  He loves to go shopping with the aunts for the firework show.  He loves all of the games and food that we plan.  He is right there in the action lighting the fireworks with Spen and Cindy.  He makes it all worth it.  I know that Ezra will grow into it soon and hopefully so will Vika after experiencing it a few times.  Ethan is just like me and loves the tradition of everything.  He was so excited and loved it all.  It was a great weekend.