America's Birthday
The Fourth of July fell in the middle of the week this year.
Isaac and I had to work (of course), but we got off at noon, so it wasn't too bad.
The girls and I made shirts earlier in the week with the American flag and their handprints. Grace even let me braid her hair to the side, and she and Charley were all ready to celebrate the birth of our great country.
We made plans to grill with Matt and Francesca, so after work (and a family nap), we stopped by the store for some root beer, vanilla vodka, and desserts.
Charley and I also grabbed an iced caramel macchiato while we waited for Isaac and Grace to check out.
We made our way to the Gerf's (soon-to-be anyways...can't wait to call them the Gerfys in nine-ish months!) and grabbed some sparklers and Pop Its on the way.
When we first arrived, Charley was pretty terrified of their dog, Lola, because she loves kids and was jumping all over and giving Charley kisses.
She stayed in Daddy's arms to avoid little Lola for a while. Soon enough, though, she was taking Lola's toys, playing in her food bowl, and even laughing at her kisses.
While the girls were busy playing with their friend, the grown ups did shots of Fireball.
We heard Charley laughing and looked over to find Grace dragging her across the living room in Lola's bed. We were cracking up, and then Lola jumped right in with them.
We ate some burgers, laughed at our crazy boys, and the kids enjoyed Tootsie Pops until it was time for fireworks.
When it started getting dark, we headed out front to play with some sparklers. Grace was kind of afraid of them, so she watched the big girls do some. Charley wasn't too impressed.
(Chris is a professional.)
Charley loved watching Grace throw the Pop Its and would say, "ohhhh" every time.
We were surprised when the neighbors a few houses down started lighting off huge, loud fireworks. The girls loved these ones.
We were planning on walking to Mission Hills park to watch the City of Henderson's firework show, but there were so many huge fireworks going off all around us. We headed that way, but stopped at the baseball field at Mannion. We figured since it was on a hill, we would have a good view from there.
It ended up being perfect, and we will probably make this our annual viewing area. We could see everything and also got to enjoy all of the homeowners fireworks that were going off all around the area.
Holidays are always more fun when you get to spend them with family and friends. The girls loved watching the fireworks and had a blast playing with Lola.
I already can't wait for next year, so we can do it all over again!
Happy Birthday, America!!
And a special thanks to all those that sacrifice for our freedoms. We are so grateful for you all!
