That's what I am talking about!

We had a great 4th of July full of fun, friends and (good) food. We had a small BBQ at the house that included the Niles family, our neighbors and Cruz and Tara. The kids had a blast, starting off with a marathon session in the pool that lasted at least 2 hours, if not more. After Joe's famous all American dinner of chicken, beef and veggie kabobs and twice baked potatoes, the kids had sno-cones while the adults dined on my favorite no-bake cheesecake recipe decorated with strawberries and blueberries (sort of) in the shape of an American flag.

Finally it was time to congregate on the front driveway where just like last year we had a fabulous view of the city's firework show just 2 blocks south at the high school. The kids all sat in the back of Cruz's truck and every time one of the really big or particularly cool fireworks would go off Jake and Sam would say, "That's what I am talking about!" Sure, it got a little annoying after awhile, but it was still pretty amusing.

At one point towards the end of the show Jadyn asked when it was going to be over. Then the grand finale started and it was truly spectacular. When it was all said and done, Jadyn looked at me said, "That's it?" disappointed that it was over. This is a perfect example of the fickle pickle personality that Jadyn possesses. It gave everyone a good chuckle.

So by this point everyone was pretty wiped out and the kids were all up past their bedtime after a long day of activity. And yet, we had one more surprise. Sparkles! Yes they are technically illegal in our city as our all fireworks except the sanctioned show but I couldn't pass up the chance to let the kids run around with sparkles, tracing circles and their names in the dark night sky. All the kids were running around the backyard with their sparkles when Jadyn's sparkle burnt out while she was clear at the far end of the yard, away from the back patio where we all were. Not at all afraid but always willing to aim for the dramatic, she waved her burnt out sparkler and shouted, "Ahhh, I don't know where I am!" as she continued to run and find her way back to us. It was the perfect way to end a very nice day.

I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do for this type of occasion. I am really trying to "be in the moment" a little bit more and I definitely succeeded at this task yesterday. But still I love seeing my kids all dressed up and smiling in their red, white and blue:

Show me the Mommy 4th of July style:

The kids with their sno-cones in the trampoline:

Playing with the sparklers:

Every year, I mention that 4th of July is a special and emotional holiday for me as it was my dad's favorite and the last thing we did as a family before he passed away several days later was go and watch the fireworks at a local park. It's been 13 years and although I think of him often, he is at the forefront of my mind every time I see a firework and yesterday was no exception.

As the evening winded down and we said our good-byes, I failed to notice that Jake had gone inside. When we came in, we found him like this passed out on the couch:

I think that is a good indication of what an activity filled and fun day we had. And trust me, we were right behind him in passing out.