Fireworks

The Fourth of July - an American holiday that kids are excited for and watch the skies. Well, we thought that this year may be the year for that for us. However at 9:30 when Eleanor looked at us and told us that she was tired and wanted to go to bed, we determined it probably wasn't going to be this year.

 

We actually celebrated a little earlier... after all Independence Day is really a celebration of liberty so we decided for our sanity to celebrate on the 3rd. We went and bought fireworks and went out to Mom and Dad's for supper and lighting them off. The hard part about summer in North Dakota is that it doesn't get dark until 10:00 practically and I was not going to let off fireworks that we had spent good money on in the light. So I insisted we wait - much to Matt's dismay. Sure we had some other distractions - wagon rides, new kitties, and snacks - but my children were ready for the show to be on the road. Grady crashed pretty early, which was no surprise - that boy likes a consistent bedtime. And E thought the fireworks were okay - she liked the fountains the best. Her dad preferred the roman candles.  He only burned up part of his shirt. They both liked chasing after the parachute. Nothing like carrying a bucket around looking for fireworks remains in the yard.

The next day, we did things a bit differently. We slept in until 7:45 - that's huge and then relaxed around the house. We got the bubble machine going, played in the yard. It was lowkey - there will be future days with parades and picnics and whatnot but why not appreciate these simple years.

The day after, we headed down to the lake to wade in. We haven't spent much time in/at the lake this year, we've wanted to dump the paddle boat in and go for a ride but it hasn't worked out and swimming with Grady hasn't always been conducive... it was fun to see them enjoy just wandering around. Sure there's always one (or two) who has to wade in too deep and get a wet diaper - causing the fun to be over and a walk to the house.