Americana

Happy 4th of July!

Celebrating the 4th is always fun...we headed over to the Ohlheiser's on the night before the 4th to watch the amazing firework display at Vista Ridge!

I made festive Jell-O shots for all the adults to enjoy - they were surprisingly easy to  make and tasted delicious!  Getting them out of the little dish however was very comical to watch...

 

 Stacey's mom made the cutest Oreo pops and my kids were in heaven - I heard they were very yummy, probably not as good as the Jell-O shots though...

 Before the actual show started Jason had his own little display of fireworks in the street. 

All the kids thought it was very cool - not going to lie, I've seen better...

 just kidding!  They were alright...

 

As usual Vista Ridge put on a great show! 

It's so fun to sit on a blanket in the grass, on a hot summer night, with friends and cold beers to watch fireworks - that is the complete definition of being an American!

Eli, however, was little scared at the beginning and snuggled up in the blanket with his head peaking out...he would peak out to see and once the firecracker went off with the big "BOOM" he'd cover his entire head with the blanket - it made Matt and I laugh!  For a kid whose rarely phased by much it was crazy how scared he got at first!  He did eventually warm up to the whole firecracker thing and then was sad when the show was over and was then ready for more!

Luckily, we'd be seeing Broomfield's the next night!

 On the 4th Matt headed to work and the kids and I joined the family at the lake...it was fun, but again missing my husband on the holiday.  Its just never the same...

We played cards, played in the water, rode on the tubes, had some good ol' American hot dogs and relaxed in the sun.

Perfect day at the lake!

 Brooke and Reece had so much fun tubing - they'd go around, and around, and around the lake! 

I'm not sure how their little arms could handle all that, but they were total rock stars!

 Ashtyn is always Brooke's little buddy and with no hesitation hopped right on the tube with her to join in on the fun.  She actually went pretty fast, but still didn't want to go over the wake...

 Eli perched in his favorite spot on the boat...

 The boat rocked my sweet boy to sleep...

...and apparently the lake puts Papa Bill to sleep as well! 

How many pictures do I have of him now sleeping in a chair at the lake?

We headed home early evening to get home and settled in time to see Broomfield's fireworks.  We were anxious to see if we would be able to see them from our back deck, because we do back up to Community Park, but we have HUGE, full trees that most likely would block our view.

We repaid the favor and invited the Ohlheiser's over to watch the fireworks along with us.

While Jason finished lighting all his fireworks off, the kids played with pop rocks, which Eli was fascinated with!  Next year I might need to get sparklers for the kiddos...

It turns out the trees did block our view, so we took our beers, popcorn and hopped the fence and had a little party on the side of Sheridan with a PERFECT view of the fireworks!

Broomfield also puts on a great show - little bummed we couldn't see it them from our deck, but we had one great popcorn party on the sidewalk! 

I always love celebrating the 4th of July, but it also means summer if half over and that stings a bit! 

Just better cram in as many pool dates, bike rides, BBQs and lake time before the school bell rings!

Happy Birthday America!