Independence Day, Our Way

I think the 4th of July was a few days ago, no?  I'm right on top of this blogging thing. I have taken SO many pictures this month and it's always fun to share some. We had a church Independence Day Party on the 2nd, with a nice program and dinner. Nicole and her friend Preslee celebrated in style. (And nothing says "America" like donuts and jello.) 

Josh is going to love this picture someday. We have a lot of 4th of July traditions, like going to the pool party. It didn't disappoint; the kids came home with coins from the pool, live goldfish that they caught, and bellies full of watermelon.

Jonathan won every single race in his age group this year. He's become quite the swimmer!

We did some things differently this year though, so I thought it would be fun to document it. Normally we go to the big fireworks display at the local college (CSI) with my parents etc, but this year we decided to change things up a bit. We had a barbecue and fireworks at my parents' house. Perhaps we started some new traditions:

Like chasing the dog around.

And blowing on duck feathers.

(Emily 7, Nicole 5, Zach 6, Jonathan 8, Allison 7, Dallin 5)

And jumping on the trampoline until it's too dark to see.

(Whose daughter is that, giving bunny ears to herself?)

After dark, we broke out the sparklers.

I think this was Greg's first time holding one by himself. Is he happy?

We had a ton of sparklers. A ton. I don't know why we felt the need to light every one of them, but we did. It got to the point where we were handing them out two at a time. My hand was cramping up from using the lighter. (I know, it's a rough life.)

The kids started getting really creative with their multiple sparklers. They were pretending to be rockets and  air traffic controllers and flame jugglers.  Zach might be doing all three at the same time.

After the sparklers, we began the big show.

This year Ben and my dad had WAY too much fun with the big fireworks. They got the ones that shoot into the sky and then explode. Wow.  They were laughing the whole time, as shrapnel was falling all around us. They were being safe, of course, and put on a great show. Some shots:

Ooh.

Aah.

Wow.

Can you explain this last picture?  I don't remember seeing a UFO but I dunno. This was the last of the firework pictures. 

I hope we all had a memorable and gratitude-filled Independence Day. My plan was to sign off with a great picture of our "Little Firecracker" but he wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a straight shot of his cute shirt. We'll keep him anyway.  Happy 4th of July!