Happy 4th!

Pretty much every year since Shafer and I got married we've spent the 4th of July on his Granny's lawn watching the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire.  With the passing of sweet Granny Woolf this year the party seemed to be called off, even though the house is still in the family.  We were sad to not go, but it was also a chance to spend the 4th with my side of the family. 

 In the town where my sister and her family live they have a really great parade every 4th so we decided to go check it out and hang with them for the day. 

 The kids had a love/hate relationship with the firetruck sirens!

 It was SUCH a HOT day!  My Dad bought popsicles for all the kids.  Usually this would have been any kids' dream come true, but since this parade is known for the tons of candy thrown out the kids were too busy gathering and eating candy to be bothered to finish their popsicles.  There were actually a few left over and my Dad was trying to convince people to eat them, I've never seen such a thing!!

 Another tactic we used to cool down was pouring water over the kids' heads, they loved it!

 The kids were excited to meet the Avengers (see Thor in the background).  Captain America's costume was made out of duct tape! 

After the parade we headed to Emily's house for a swim party for the kids.  There was a sprinkler under the tramp, one big pool and 3 little ones, plus my brother-in-law Andrew had set up a bunch of buckets for the adults to stick their feet in, it was lovely!  I didn't get too many pictures of this scene since Shafer and I ended up having an epic water gun fight, it was awesome!

We had a barbecue later at my parent's house and I made the dessert, rice krispie stars on top of fruit kabobs.  Oh, pinterest how you make my life more difficult by making it impossible for me to make a simple dessert!!
We finished off the night watching some fireworks back at Emily's house.  It was such a fun Independence Day and I'm glad I was able to spend it with some of my favorite people!!  We're so blessed!