We had a fun 4th of July. It was our first day back from our vacation in Indiana, so we spent most of the day being lazy at home, getting things back in order and doing laundry. Then in the evening, we were invited to the home of some church members for a cookout. These members live on 3rd Avenue, across the street from a park that is right on the lake. After the cookout we were invited to walk across the street with them and watch the fireworks which are set off from the lake.
The girls had never seen fireworks before. When we lived in Michigan, on the very western edge of the timezone, it got dark so late that it wasn't really feasible with little kids. It didn't get totally dark until like 10:30 there. But now that we're on the eastern edge of a timezone, it gets dark about an hour earlier. And since the fireworks were on a Thursday night and we had no plans on Friday, we thought it was the perfect time for them to see their first fireworks display.
The girls all decked out in their red, white, and blue.
Eva had fireworks in her hair.
The main source of entertainment for the girls was this doggy, Nelly.
Lena pretending to ward off kisses from Daddy.
Tried to get a smile out of Eva, but she was clearly not in the mood!
Anita got out the bean bag game and the girls played for a while, getting progressively closer and close to it.
The girls enthralled as the dog's owner (the Brothers' son) shows them a trick Nelly can do. He put a treat on her nose and she snatched it up.
Good doggy!
Then we tried the trick with Eva and a potato chip.
When it got dark, we took blankets and chairs across the road to wait for the fireworks. The girls were so excited!
Even though it was after 9 (and Lena had been up since 5:50 that morning), they were totally pumped, running around and playing.
Hard to believe how different the weather was this year in comparison to last year. Last year it was over 100 degrees, and this year I wore jeans to the cookout and we all needed jackets as soon as the sun went down.
Lena cuddled with the doggy while waiting for the fireworks to start.
My camera doesn't really do night shots, but this is kind of what it looked like from where we were. The spot was just perfect. It was so much fun hearing the girls' reaction to the fireworks. They were so surprised when they saw the first one. They had seen them on tv before, but were totally amazed by the real thing. They were totally enthralled the whole time. Jim and I enjoyed it too, as we couldn't even remember the last time we saw fireworks. (After thinking about it for a while, I think it was when we were in Texas, which would have been 2006.)
The fireworks were done by 10:00. We walked back over to the Brothers' house. Traffic was insane, so we hung out there for a while waiting for it to thin out a bit. Anita made strawberry shortcake, so we all enjoyed that while we waited.
Then she busted out the sparklers!
At first, Eva was too scared to hold one.
But then I showed her there was nothing to be afraid of and she got over it.
Jim accidentally lit 5 or 6 at once.
We thought it was fun to light them in the middle and make two spark thingies.
We left the Brothers' about an hour after the fireworks ended and got home around 11:20. Eva fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car, and Lena followed soon after. We took them straight to bed when we got home and they both slept late the next morning. Lena didn't get up until 8:30 and Eva got up after 10, I think.
I'm so glad the girls got to see fireworks, and I kind of like how they were older because their reactions were priceless and something Jim and I will always remember. Thanks so much, Chuck and Anita!
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