Independence Day Evening 2009

When I try to picture how our family will celebrate the Fourth of July ten years from now what I see is something very similar to the party/BBQ that Uncle Richard and Aunt Debbie put on last night. They invited all their family and friends that are in the area. It was pot luck, so everyone brought something, there was even home made ice cream. It just seemed so picture perfect to have everyone gathered together eating, talking, and laughing while we celebrated our country. Maybe that sounds sappy, but that's how I really feel about it. I would love to be in a position someday to put on that kind of a gathering. But I do love being a hostess, so maybe that's why.

Uncle Kelly watching Bolt with Lincoln and Bennett

Dinner wasn't scheduled to start until 7:00pm, but we went over around 4:30pm. It was nice to chat with Richard and Debbie. We haven't seen them in awhile. The little kids got kind of bored, so Uncle Kelly was kind enough to sit and watch Bolt with them to keep them from tearing the house apart.

Lincoln showing off his sparkler

The original plan was to stay and watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks with everyone, but since we'd woken up so early this morning, Lincoln was pretty well ready to call it quits by about 8 o'clock. Before we headed for home we pulled out some of our fireworks to let the kids play with them. We had sparklers and pops and some things that spun around really fast in a brightly colored circle, and something that made a really loud whistling noise.

Bennett waving his sparkler around

We had to light the spinning ones and the whistling ones out in the street. There were a lot of neighbors out lighting fireworks with their kids as well, so we all took turns and all got to enjoy each others' fireworks. It was nice how that worked out.

Linc throwing a pop, those were his favorite

Ivan didn't like the smoke from the fireworks, so he and I didn't get to stay out and watch very long. Linc kept getting scared, which I think probably had something to do with all the unfamiliar people around added to the fact that he hadn't gotten much sleep today, and that this is his first experience with fireworks. When he got scared he would come over and hold tightly onto mine or Aaron's leg, but once we bent down and gave him a kiss on the head he was fine for another 5 minutes or so until he needed another "tiss".

After that we went home and put both boys to bed, then Aaron and I went and sat out of the front grass with a few of the neighbors and watched the first part of the stadium of fire fireworks. For some reason they did about 5 minutes worth and then paused for about 20 minutes before starting up again. During this pause Aaron and I decided we were exhausted and that it would be more beneficial/enjoyable to go in and go to bed. So that's what we did.