Fourth of July.

This past week was the Fourth of July.  Seriously one of my all time favorite holidays.  We decided that since 1) we weren't traveling 2) it was a Wednesday and 3) we have little kids, we'd extend and invitation to some other families in the area and see if they wanted to join for a few hours of grilling fun in the afternoon.   Two families were able to make it and I giggle because the three families equated to 14 people! 17 if you count the babies that are currently being made within each of the mom's bellies!

The day went fantastically and since the grilling wasn't starting until around 3, we decided to head out on the river for the morning/early afternoon.  We usually find a sand-bar type spot on the river that has worked for us in the past, but it doesn't provide shade all that well...Broghan had heard of a different spot from someone a few years ago and we decided that why not?  So we moved a little south on the river and literally found our new oasis!  It's got shade, a shallow - sandy lagoon that is shallow enough for the kids to walk in and other boaters provided to tunes for us to relax too!  It was awesome!  With air temps reaching 100, it was difficult to leave our cool reprieve; but somehow we managed to pull ourselves away and get on land.

A few last minute cleaning up projects and then it was time to host.  Like I said, it ended up being one of the hottest days of the summer, so spreading the 14 of us out outside couldn't work anymore.  Our house accommodated as well as it could though and everyone had a good time.  Around 5 though the kids were starting to cause injury to one another being cooped up indoors and so we braved the heat and filled the kiddie pool.  They had fun sliding down the slide in the yard into the pool (a make shift water slide) and running through the sprinkler though.

We also had originally planned to head over to the local ski show to watch that instead of the fireworks; but after a long day for the kids, the ridiculous temperatures, and some great conversations being had; we decided it would be best to hang at home.  We finished the night off swapping stories with some friends and once the crowds left and the kids headed off to bed, Broghan and I watched the fireworks on t.v. while listening to them go off around the neighborhood.

Here are pictures from out on the water...unfortunately, I'm horrible at getting shots when other people are with us so I don't have any of when the other families were here...