Independence

4th of July is my favorite holiday

I always dress the kids up and look forward to a fun family day

Where I grew up, we always had a parade, picnic, fireworks, music, etc. The whole 9 yards

Out here, it's a little different. 

It's usually hot..really hot.

There's also a ton of people any where you go.

Fireworks may last 15 minutes but you have to get there at least 4-6 hours before they start and then good luck trying to get home that night. Your looking at another hour or so. 

This year we decided to make it easy and just relax with family

We tried to get the perfect picture of the kids

Unfortunately, there was always one person not looking at the camera

at least we tried

Then we relaxed!

and ate a whole watermelon

which made for frequent bathroom breaks

The kids raced in the pool

It was actually a chilly 4th of July for us. It barely made it to 90 so sitting out on the patio was perfect!

Then it was time for sparklers!

As the night drew dark, we went to the park to watch some parasailer's jump. They had some lights on them and it turned out pretty cool! 

We saw about 6 different fireworks shows on our way home. Little bits and pieces from each. It was good enough for us though.

After all, 2 of the 3 kiddos were already sleeping.