Every year since Cole was young, on the 3rd of July he and his cousins would sleep out in his uncle's driveway. The tradition has continued as the spouses and children came along, and now there's a rather large group of us who gather at Uncle Rex and Aunt Cathy's house with our kids, to relax, talk, play, and of course, light lots and lots of fireworks.
This year I made
Cake Pops, which were a great success.
The adults all sat around in lawn chairs talking, while the kids (and me and Cole) played...
Alexa (Cole's cousin Tamron's daughter) was practicing her walk-overs, while my niece Alyssa and I watched/coached...
Then Alyssa decided to get into the act...
Talia and Ainsley
Cole and I played "Lightening" with the kids...
Out...
Shooting...
I'm pleased to report that I beat everyone...including all my boys, in one game. Yeah, we all know that Mom's the boss, but they didn't realize that I was also Da Bomb! :)
(Kyle did beat me in one game when I was a little less competitive)
Toward dusk, it was time for the sparklers...
My nephew Hunter
Talia was afraid of hers...
Approaching dark...
Cole always brings a tube of lightsticks for the kids...
Alec and Hunter "sword" fight...
My crazy (almost) 9 year old...
(who, incidentally, burned his finger when he thought it would be a good idea to touch a burned out sparkler...)
"I'm a walrus!"
And finally, it was dark enough for fireworks...
We very much enjoyed being able to do the arial fireworks this year...
After we were done lighting fireworks, I got Cole and the kids settled, and I went home to sleep (because I had to work the 4th). It was a really fun night with Cole's family!
Oh, and of course, I had to get a picture of my house before I left for work...
God Bless the USA!
