4th of July!

Our 4th of July was a good one despite the fact that we thought we were going to need a boat to do anything, since we were having so much rain.  This year was a hard 4th of July.  It was our first 4th in the neighborhood without Meg.  We lost Meg about 6 weeks ago after a hard fought battle with cancer. She was our neighborhood "captain" and she loved having all of us over for a 4th of July party.  We would start by eating breakfast together, then have our parade, then hang out and swim for however long anyone could.  It was a very special day for all of us and to say we were going into it this year with heavy hearts would be an understatement.  This is our picture from last  year and it is one we will always treasure.

We weren't real sure what to do this year but we decided she would want us to get together still and so we did.  Kelly and I decided to have everyone over to our house for breakfast and then we would hope for a break in the rain to get our parade in.  Breakfast was delicious and it wasn't long after we had finished eating that we saw the rain stop and we knew this was our chance for a parade if we were going to have one.  Everyone ran to get their bikes or vehicle to ride on and we lined the kids up for a group picture.  They loved it as always and I know Meg would have been proud.  Even though we have more tough days ahead and other holidays to get through, we now have our first 4th down.  I know that every year we will celebrate with her in our thoughts though!

All lined up!

Go Elliott!

Can you  tell who loved waving their flag?!

I love how Ramsey was concentrating hard with his tongue out!

Sam!

Our youngest enjoying their 1st 4th of July~Sadie and Sawyer

Grace, Keyes, and Elliott

Suzy has always been our faithful parade watcher!

The ladies-(minus Dawn, who had to work,  and Michelle)

After lunch we packed up and headed to our next celebration spot, the Burton's.  This is where we always go on the 4th and have all my life!  All the kids love to swim and all the adults eat, play games, and relax.  I wasn't sure if the rain would go away for the kids to swim or not but it did and when it did start to rain they just stayed in.  There was no lightening so who was letting a little rain hold them back?!  We had 2 big tents for the adults to sit under so we were good.  I think we enjoyed ourselves very much!

Kate & Elliott...it is so cute watching these 2

A little fun swimming in the rain

Its not every day you get serenaded with "God Bless America"  by Alan on top of the slide

Cohen loved getting a toss from daddy

I couldn't possibly not post these next pictures...about a week ago Jen found this great picture online and we all got a good laugh out of it.  We knew this would have to be tried and what better time than 4th of July when we're all together.  And who better to try it than our hubbys!  We showed them what they needed to try to accomplish and about 20 tries later along with a few red sides this is what we got...Nice try guys!

EPIC WIN

EPIC LOSS

EPIC LOSS #2

 The kids all had some fun with sparklers before we left for the fireworks.  Cohen actually held one this year.  She is normally afraid to.  Kate had one too but she is dangerous with hers!  I only let her try one.  Cohen and some of the girls had been playing dress up so that is what she has on.  After her sparkler we had to make her go change and find some shoes!

This is where Kate stayed most of the night...digging in the chips bag!