I LOVE Independence Day!! It is my favorite holiday (along with Easter). I love the 4th of July so much that I have accumulated enough red, white and blue clothing for my boys to wear every day of the week leading up to the 4th and several days following.
During this special week, we ate outside a lot. It was so beautiful!
Dallin enjoyed a patriotic cupcake one evening.
Meanwhile Tanner ate the rest of his birthday cake.
I took the kids to Home Depot to get the proper tile color for our master bathroom. (Just a couple arguments about that were had by me and Jeremy, haha)
In his defense, he worked super hard all week to finish the shower tiles.
Here's more red, white and blue outfits.
We had a playdate with the Taylors because they were getting ready to move on short notice. We miss them terribly.
We ate at school lunch every day, and played on the little slides and swings each time.
School lunch gets Dallin all tuckered out!
On July 3, we hosted a Red, White and Blue Bash at our home. We played family kickball in the park across from our backyard, had a little bike parade, then enjoyed BBQ and desserts, and played with sparklers.
Dallin was SO cute during kickball. We had an extra ball that he kicked and ran after, all over the field. He hardly stopped to rest the full 45 minutes we were out there. What a hard worker!
Tanner was looking forward to kick ball because he had seen some big kids play the game at school lunch. But once we actually played with everyone at our party, he got too anxious. "I don't want everyone looking at me when I kick the ball." We of course let him just watch, but it was really hard for me to see him struggle within himself. I knew he wanted to kick that ball so badly!
The bike parade!
This year, my festive food included watermelon
Red, white and blue kabobs,
and American Flag bean dip.
Even my garden was festive! I was so excited to find red, white and sort of blue flowers.
We only had a few accidents with the sparklers, haha.
The bugs that day were in love with Dallin. Poor little guy, his forehead swelled up and stayed swollen for 3 days, along with the bites down the side of his head.
One mosquito bite caused all this swelling! I felt so bad for him.
For breakfast on the Big Day, we ate red, white and blue pancakes.
We spent the morning packing and taking care of last minute errands because we had to leave the next day at 4:30 am for Sacramento (bad idea, let's not travel this close to the 4th again). We were excited to go to the park for evening festivities. We got to ride our bikes!!
At the park
We met up with old and new friends.
We explored the bounce houses, played catch and frizbee and had fun with glow sticks before the big show. The firework show was amazing, you really can't beat this small town's festive flare. The symphony plays live music for the first 5-7 minutes of fireworks. Then we enjoyed another 20 minutes of fireworks to some popular recordings. There were about 7 finales, and the most amazing silver sparkles that filled the sky all around us at the very end. Jeremy, Tanner and I loved it. I didn't expect Dallin to be terrified. The poor thing was too scared to make any sound. He was playing with Bryan when the first fireworks went off, and I had to pry his arms off of Bryan's neck so that Bryan could watch the show. Dallin refused to look up at the sky, just buried his head in my collar bone. He fell asleep in my arms before the show was over.
It was a beautiful 4th of July here in Minnesota. I loved being able to ride our bikes to and from the firework show because we got to really take in all that the 4th of July has to offer. The weather is perfect, hot and humid. The town is lush green. The fireflies are out, and there are yummy BBQ smells at every block. Music coming from backyards, laughter around each corner, smiles on everyone's faces. Dozens, then hundreds, of people walking the streets and riding bikes to the same place. We all come together, from all different walks of life, all representing different corners of the globe, to celebrate one event that makes us all similar. I love it!!
Here are some 4th of July gangster signs to commemorate our American pride. I am so grateful to be a citizen of this great country! I hope to bring my forefathers justice for all their sacrifices by passing on their amazing legacies!