Fireworks on the 4th

We went from the lake straight to Greg & Lissa's to celebrate the 4th. We had the afternoon free so Daddy and the kids went to the neighborhood pool where Canyon was lifeguarding.

 

Aspen entertained the kids with games while Abe and Greg snuck down into his freezing mancave to watch some Star Trek. It didn't take the boys long to figure out what the dads were doing and they were down there, as well.

We lit our own fireworks with Canyon and Aspen, which were enough for us.

 But then the neighborhood friends came over with all their big kids. They lit the big kid fireworks. Tons of them.  They even had some water ones. Zeke put a water one in a 5 gallon bucket...it exploded the bucket. So then they all went to the creek across the street.

 Fireworks wouldn't be fireworks without sparklers.

Lijee had the best seat in the house.

Happy 4th!

We Lake So Hard

Some of my best childhood memories were made at the lake. I still love going to the lake, and it's even more fun with family. Shout out to Greg, Lissa, Tom & Judy for letting us crash their party.

Sister and my handsome nephews.

 The kids loooove tubing.

 Sister and I don't so much love it, but we did it with Alex and Nathan and had fun!

 Natural-born lakers.

Zekers and his big cousins.

 My first and favorite lake friend. Although she wasn't always my favorite when she would dunk me when we were kids...

 Zekers liked to jump on the tube.

 The boy 'table.'

 Mwa!

The Daniels kids.

Aspen and Zekers livin it up, while Daisy is hanging on for dear life.

However, she did get a little cray.

H2O-n-my Bro.

We snuck onto the water trampoline with Canyon and Aspen.

The Momma still got it even though I only get to wakeboard once a year if I'm lucky. I happened to be lucky this year.

The Daiser gave it a try. She almost got up but decided she didn't like it.

Zekers likes it, though.

We love us some lake!

'Merica

We celebrated Independence Day our favorite way--we went to the Randolph Celebration with the fam. 

Evening walks are appreciated by everyone, but probably Frito Pie loves it the most.

The cows cut our walk short.

A bouquet of wildflowers picked by my Daisy.

This year there was laser tag at the Randolph Celebration. DanFam5 had fun with that all day long.

Daisy won the award for sharp shooter for the day. She won several of the rounds.

I must have been looking official. That, or maybe judgmental. I was asked to judge the parade as well as the Steve Hoard Memorial Award for the car show. Talk about pressure!

Steve used to make the awards for the car show with his metal art. They now have a Steve Hoard Memorial Award. We picked a hot rod-type car that we think Steve would have approved of.

This old fire truck was not the car we picked, but it was fun to climb on and drive.

 For the parade we made a rubric: decorations, friendliness, and treats thrown. If the kids liked the free parade swag, they voted higher on the other two categories, as well. #Priorities.

The best part of the celebration was spending the day with friends and family.

Trouble with a capital T-- Callie (Reika's friend), Reika, Autumn (sister's niece), Daisy, and Brandy.

Stevie was too little to tag along with the big girls this year.

Playing with fireworks!

April had a great idea. She brought a lantern in memory of her Dad. We all signed it. This one brings tears to my eyes on more than one level.

Steve let me know he was with us. Sure do miss him.

A great weekend celebrating America and my family!