We went to the parade in Ridgefield with some of our friends. It was a great parade and the kids loved collecting all the candy that was thrown. After the parade, we went to our friends Ericka and Jeff's house for a BBQ. They have a little boy (Tanner) who is the same age as Tycen and Shaylie and a little girl (Chloe) who was born in mid July.
All the big kids were quick to get the candy first, so it was quite the feat when Tyce and Shay came up with some candy :)
We headed back home in the late afternoon to get ready for our good friends, Steve, Audra and Dylon to come over. I had fun making festive dishes this year; my favorite was the star-shaped watermelon (I used a star-shaped cookie cutter) and blueberries :) The kids loved it, too! I also made a yummy organic flag cake.
After dinner, we lit some (very tame) fireworks. The kids and I picked some out together and they were so excited to finally get to use them!
We had regular and neon-colored sparklers:
Snap-its:
We also had some cars that were supposed to drive when they were lit (these were the most anticipated ones of all), but unfortunately they ended up to be pretty dudley. They'd flip over once they were lit and wouldn't drive. We also had a couple of fountains that were fun to watch. I probably wasn't the best person to pick out the fireworks but at least we have a pretty forgivable crowd with three (almost) 4 year-olds :)
Silly kids! :)
The Cross family is expecting a new baby girl in December. We're so excited to have little girls so close in age!
We got to watch an amazing firework display from our front lawn. There were a lot of people lighting of huge fireworks at the park, which with a slight wind would literally fall right above us. The kids thought it was neat at first, but I think they started to get a little nervous about all the noise. I don't think I've ever heard fireworks like I did this year. Since we're usually in S. Oregon (and Oregon law is more strict than Washington in regards to fireworks), we hadn't heard all the loud, huge fireworks like we did this year. It lasted for about 4-5 nights around the 4th of July, but definitely the 4th was the loudest of all. I just was in shock/awe at the sound of it all. It lasted from about 9-midnight. Non-stop. It was seriously unbelievable. Thankfully, our kids were able to sleep through it once we put them to bed!
We had a great 4th of July and even though we didn't get to go to S. Oregon, we definitely made the most of it and enjoyed our time together as a family and with our close friends. We're so blessed to live in this country!
