4th of July

We LOVE the 4th of July!  We love it for many reasons, not least of which is for the great blessings we enjoy by living in this great country.  We are so grateful for all who have fought and made it possible for us to enjoy those freedoms.  We are grateful for our founding fathers, for their courage and determination to create a safe, new country where people can live and worship as they please.

I did precious little to deserve or earn my freedoms, but people I have never known sacrificed all so I could have them.  I am profoundly grateful.

I have always loved celebrating our Independance Day, but since moving here to Washington where so many more fireworks are legal than any other place I've ever lived before, the enjoyment has been raised to a whole new level. lol  Ryan discovered his inner pyro shortly after witnessing all the glorious possibilities and we soon became familiar with the Indian Reservations where you can get some totally awesome deals on fireworks.  *insert evil laughter here*

So, with all that great anticipation, we began our preparations for this fantastic and meaningful day.  Starting with Rori's hair.  Yep, even hair can get into the patriotic spirit.  I tried this last year and it ended up kind of lop-sided, so I did it again this year and it turned out much better. lol

I brought two red/white/blue desserts to our family BBQ/party.  I wish I had taken a picture of the one that my cousin brought though!  It turns out that my sister did the same thing at their party in Sacramento though, so you can look at hers and get an idea of how Alisha's was.  Alisha used red velvet cake for her red, so it was a lot darker, but other than that, it looked just like Debi's.  It was pretty impressive!

The BBQ was delicious and it was a lot of fun visiting and playing with everyone.  We invited a family we are friends with to come join us and it was fun to introduce them to my family and have them join in our fun.  After the BBQ, most of us walked up the hill to the park to have a water balloon fight.

It was a fierce battle and I believe that more than one person went home with a bruise or two, but everyone had a fun time and eventually when the balloons ran out, we took the walk back home and started getting ready for fireworks.

Have I mentioned how much Ryan enjoys this portion of the festivities? lol  We always end up with a fantastic show!

And after all the mortars, shells, cakes, and fans had been blown up, we kept the fun going for a little longer.  We hadn't used very many of the sparklers yet, and Sami had an idea she just wanted to try...

Fun! But then we ran out of sparklers and really did have to admit that the fun was over. Time to clean up (Rori was such a good helper!), pack up, head home, and start dreaming about next year's Fourth of July!