4th of July

The 4th of July was very low-key and pretty different from our years of playing with friends or family. But I guess it's just a glimpse at how things will be this year for the first time ever.
Since we can never get enough time in the pool we played in it that evening while waiting for it to get dark enough for fire works. Of course, all I wanted to do was play with the fire.

                                    

 Ben shocked and made the kids' day by climbing in and playing with them. (I sat in a chair and put my feet in for awhile. And I read a book...which was weird and wonderful!)

 She's not crying - she's gasping because the water she just poured on her head is cold!

 When it got a little darker we got dressed and headed out to the front yard. Ben always lets me light as many as I want because I usually have to hold a crying toddler. This year was different: Paige LOVED them and was the fight of our kids not to be sad and upset for any of the noise and lights at her age. It was great!

 But they were still loud!

We think we found a sweet spot for fireworks. We'll probably never go somewhere again! So many of our neighbors bought the aerial fireworks and lit them all around us. Whichever way we turned we could see great displays and somehow it seemed like they had timed them to all go off at perfect intervals between each other. It was awesome! After all of ours were gone we set out chairs on our lawn and finished watching all the great shows around us. It was simple and calm and really fun to just hang out at home together. Happy 4th!