Happy Fourth of July!

The day before the 4th, the whole family took a walk to the closest firework stand and we bought some kid favorites.

Kaden got a kiddie pool of his own, because the family pool was too big and overwhelming for him. 

His new pool was just his size! 

Kaden's water slide was a hit! 

We had brownie sundaes after lunch. :o)

Later that evening, I heard an all too familiar sound that is forever ingrained in my memory. I haven't heard it for years and years, but I instantly knew what it was. "Put on your shoes!!!" I started yelling. Tony and Addi looked at me like I was crazy. They were lounging around the house after a long hot day of swimming fun. "Just trust me and put on your shoes!" They reluctantly and slowly put on their shoes. "GET OUTSIDE! IT'S THE ICE CREAM TRUCK!"

As I watched Addi excitedly flag down the truck and pick out her frozen treat I was on the porch fighting back the tears. It feels like yesterday I was the little girl with a long brown braid chasing down the ice cream truck. Addi has been talking about the ice cream truck non stop and how "rad" it was. This was my favorite part of our perfect holiday weekend.

On the 4th, we started the day with some morning firework fun.

Kaden!!! Do NOT chase your sister with that sparkler!!!

Addi discovers that one sparkler is cool, but two sparklers is TOO MUCH! ;o)

~Snakes~

We had a family Fourth of July coloring contest. Addison's stuffed animals were the judges, and after they unanimously voted Addi's picture the winner I thanked them all for their unbiased judging.

We grilled some bratwursts,

and took a dip in the pool.

Before we knew it, it was time for FIREWORKS. Our little town is one of the only places around where fireworks are legal. In the "big city" they have a couple big fireworks shows, but fireworks are illegal, as is the case with most of the surrounding area. Because there is no show out here, we were planning on driving into the city that night. When I mentioned this to the neighbor the day before she giggled and told me there was no need to go anywhere. The neighborhood here puts on quite a show. Sure enough, Fourth of July morning our street began to change. Tents were popping up, chairs were lining up, intersections had basketball courts, and people were getting around on 4 wheelers and golf carts. All of our neighbors had massive amounts of people over. We lit off our little fountains and the neighbors blasted their professional grade fireworks in the air, non stop, as fast as they could as if they were all trying to out do the rest. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. 360 degrees around the house were the most amazing fireworks exploding in the air. Smoke was heavy and explosions and loud booms were non stop from every angle. From ground level it looked like a neighborhood under attack, but looking up you would have thought you were at Walt Disney World's greatest firework show.

We sat out front watching the show until the kids couldn't take it anymore. Kaden was exhausted and giving everyone dirty looks, and I knew it was bed time. We tucked the kids in and went out on the back deck and the two of us talked and watched fireworks until we couldn't any longer. The neighbors went all night. It must be contagious because Tony is already talking about next year and the fireworks HE is going to buy. :o)