Snapshots of our 4th of July

We had a beautiful 4th of July weekend. My parents came down from Orlando (not Pennsylvania as was announced in church Sunday morning!) and made the weekend lots of fun! We spent several hours on the afternoon of the 4th at an event hosted by our church. Unfortunately, I have NO photos of our time there because I was either juggling my umbrella and one of my kids drinks or was under the smoky tent serving food. My mom has pictures, so when she emails them to me, maybe I'll post them then. The event was great fun even though it rained nearly the whole time. There were half a dozen bounce houses, pony rides, petting zoo, and tons of free food! I don't even want to know how much popcorn, or how many slushies, snow cones and cotton candy my kids ate! The community was invited and we had a great turn out in spite of the rain! The older kids enjoyed the ditch full of water and they were all taking turns on Elijah's skim board. (They were soaked head to toe, but were very happy, so I didn't care. I just hope there weren't any disgusting germs or worms or anything in the water. But, it's Monday morning and everyone seems healthy enough.) Around 6pm, we headed home to get showers and head to Stuart for fireworks. I was concerned that it would be too much all packed into one day for Nate and James, but they were SO well behaved! The day couldn't have been more perfect! The fireworks display was good. We have spent the last several years at my sister's house for the 4th, and out in the country, the fireworks displays are either non-existent or very small. It was a nice change for the kids, even though we would have had more fun if Adela and her family had been with us! :-) On Saturday afternoon we took the kids to a private beach where I work and got some family photos. It was a beautiful day, and I don't think it rained at all! Come to think of it, I don't think it rained yesterday, either! I love it when we can celebrate a holiday without some major meltdown with the kids, or something going awry. That's what this weekend was: perfect in every way!