Celebrating Our Independence

We started our celebrating with our community bike parade.

The kids decorated with flags and crate paper.

We got to the parade waiting area early so we could get a good spot near the front.

There were so many people there. It was fun to parade through our beautiful neighborhood with so many of our friends and neighbors.

After the parade, we went to the community park where the boys enjoyed the bouncy houses and other attractions. These inflatable balls were awesome. The boys could crawl inside them and make them roll all over the field.

Jacob is on the Left Andrew is on the Right.

After the park, we went home to cool off and relax before heading down the alley to our friends' house for a barbecue and fireworks.

This just says it all:

The girls sitting nicely at a safe distance watching all the exploding happen. With Snacks!

We had plenty of kid-friendly fireworks including smoke bombs, sparklers, and pop-its.
The boys were fascinated with all that was exploding. Big boys included!

The boys wanted to stomp on everything--the firework debris and the soot. We had to keep reminding them that fireworks are dangerous and hot.

We had a bazillion sparklers. I was in charge of lighting them for the kids. They'd line up, get their lit sparkler, run off and flash it around, then get back in line.

The hardest part was waiting for it to get dark enough for the big fireworks.

In the end, the big fireworks were worth the wait. We had a great time. That is why the 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays. --Kelly