Our 4th of July

For the most part our 4th of July was pretty uneventful. Just a typical Saturday at home. Joe had to work, so the girls and I got dressed up in our red, white and blue and headed to church to meet him for dinner. We got there a little early and it was so HOT, so Joleigh, Noelle and I treated ourselves to a yummy smoothie to cool off. Then we had cheeseburgers, chips and watermelon for dinner.







After church we headed to our usual fireworks spot. We have been going there for the past few years, ever since we lived in the apartments off of 71st and Bell. There is a great spot to set up chairs and watch the fireworks from from the Peoria Sports Complex, but the best part is avoiding traffic afterwards. We loaded up our drinks, snacks and spray bottles to stay cool. Joe's brothers, Josh and Justin, his sister, Jeri and Jeri's fiance, Mike met us there. We weren't sure how the girls were going to react. In years past Joleigh has been scared of the fireworks, mainly the noise, and we waited only to be in the van during the actual fireworks show. But we were excited to see their reactions, plus it was Jaelyn's first 4th of July, so we had to go. We had so much fun while we waited playing with glow sticks, spraying each other with water bottles and just enjoying our family. When they started the girls were in their own seats, but Joleigh quickly moved to Daddy's lap and Noelle chose to sit with Mike and then later Uncle Joshy.





Some direct quotes: Joleigh-"Daddy they are so large and big." and "You're right, Dad, they do sound like popcorn." Noelle-"They're beautiful." "And sparkly." And then she repeated every color as they exploded.





We had so much fun and created some great memories. Jaelyn was such a trooper and stayed up way past bedtime. We are still adjusting today from getting to bed too late, but it was so worth it, when they woke up this morning asking to go to fireworks again tonight.