I'm Proud to be an American!

The 4th of July was our real kick-off to summer.

Up until then, we'd had a few warm days that would get into the 80's, but on the whole, it was still rather chilly with at least one or two rainy days a week. Independence Day was gorgeous, summery, and perfect.

On the 3rd, I decided to bribe the girls into doing their chores with new skirts. I have yards and yards of fabric in my stash and so I let each girl pick out their favorite red, white, and blue prints. As is usually the case whenever I decide to sew anything, I made things a little more complicated that I needed to and stayed up until 3:00 in the morning finishing up their skirts - but, MAN, were they cute little patriotic ladies! :)

We started the day at the parade downtown. The girls were completely psyched to go ---- until we realized that there was no candy. After that, they watched for a little while and then complained about being bored and hot. :) Seriously!!!??? What is a parade without candy??? Advertisements. That's what.

After the parade, we headed over to Dub's for ice cream. AND, my girls are like the most delightful wild women you've ever seen. :) They got a little sugar in them and couldn't help but run ALL OVER. Twirling and laughing. Made my heart happy.

"photo bombed" by Lilie

Ah! Much better! :)

Sometimes you have to get creative with the entertainment options . . . 

We spent the afternoon at home, cleaning up some things and taking it easy before heading down to City Beach for the fireworks that evening.

Attempting to get a "cute" picture of the girls all together . . .
. . . you would think that after 9 years of parenting we would learn to be happy with . . . happy.   :)

We got to the Beach several hours before dark and I was pleasantly surprised and how well the girls entertained themselves . . . and everyone else in the general vicinity. :)

These pictures of the girls jumping off the rocks make me laugh so much!

The girls just loved dancing around in their new skirts all day. 

Totally made the lack of sleep the night before all worth it!

At one point, apparently, Elsie was kicked off the rocks by her meanie sisters. It was quite devastating. 

But nobody can stay sad when Mom is willing to make such retarded faces!

Or when Daddy asks you to DANCE with him!!!

It was a really wonderful night!

At one point we almost lost Violet in the crowd of thousands of people and the dark (makes me almost start crying just thinking about it!) and Clara was most DEFINITELY NOT a fan of the fireworks (hid her little face in Daddy's shoulder the whole time), but I couldn't have asked for a better day with my family.

I'm so thankful for the country that we live in. 

I'm thankful for those who sacrifice so much to protect and defend us. I'm so thankful that each of us have the right to think, believe, and worship how, where, and what we choose. I'm thankful for the differences in all of us. How blessed we are!