July 4th, Minus the Fireworks

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays! I love the patriotism, the celebrations of freedom, the fellowship with friends and family. .but I especially enjoy the aerial fire displays!! This year was a little different, in light of the severe drought around our part of the country. The fireworks were banned in our community. .and in many surrounding communities. .big and small. So what else do you do to take the exciting place of fireworks??

Lots of bubbles!

And water games!!

And lounging on the deck tanking down gallons of ice cold lemonade!!

We enjoyed a family BBQ Sunday night to celebrate my brother in laws birthday. Jeremy's cousin and family (whom we haven't seen for ever!) came too. The kids had a great time using the bubbles. .and the breeze was just so, that these two 3 year olds could just hold their wands in the air and the breeze blew the bubbles out for them. Hazel and Cami were quick to clique. .and had a total blast playing together.

Granny always buys the parachute rockets. .so we did launch a few of those from the road.

Notice the way Devin is juking to the right. .He was on a mission to retrieve that parachute!

The kids had so much fun running, running, running to get those little army guys dropping from the sky! The other thing dropping from the sky were a handful of raindrops. .not enough to amount to much moisture. .but a welcome sensation on the skin anyway.

We have had so much fun getting to know our family who has moved home from Texas!! It's the first time we have celebrated any of their birthdays. .with hopefully more to come! In a few days, I'll have some pictures of the "cousin's afternoon off" that we shared last week.

We often times host a July 4th party at our home. The highlight of that being a wonderful fireworks display put on by ourselves and our guests. Everyone packs in some fireworks and they go into big bucket. Then Jeremy (the firemaster) and the kids (the punkmasters) enjoy taking turns lighting off the accumulated crackers. .one by one, while everyone else relaxes and watches the show. This year though, I didn't quite feel "in the mood." And put off deciding and planning until late Friday. I'm glad we decided to throw together something. We had a great time! 

Devin and I went to Dollar General and bought 400 water balloons, new water guns, and a slip and slide. The big kids loved it. .the middle sized kids loved it. .and the little girls loved it!

Look at those little flower powers!! The big, BIG kids enjoyed laying around on the front deck, enjoying the company. .the giggles. .the waterfall. .and the cool night air. .of course with VERY full bellies!

And we snuck in a feeeeew sparklers on the endless parking lot by the shop. .

All's well that ends well!!

LET FREEDOM RING!!

Have a great week!