the 4th of july

We had a "blast" (ha ha - pun intended!) celebrating Independence Day!  In fact, in light of Auntie Allie's wedding tomorrow, we may have overdone the celebrating a bit . . .


The activities began with Shiloh's "booms" (Braden speak for fireworks) on Tuesday night.  Since it was a little warm (our car said 102 degrees at 7:45pm), Grandma Jane volunteered to hang out with Elise in the a/c.  Cousin Addie joined us and braved the heat.  We ate supper at home (inside!), but packed a cooler of drinks and ice (we ended up using the ice packs to cool our bodies) . . . and Addie introduced Braden to cotton candy

 It's safe to say that he liked it!

As always, the Shiloh fireworks were stunning and didn't disappoint (and were worth sitting out in the heat to see).  However, due to the large crowds, we didn't make it  home till after 11pm.  (When we finally got home, Braden asked if he could take a nap!) ;)


We slept in a little on Wednesday morning, then headed to Wellman to enjoy the parade.  Miss Elise had a great time, despite the heat.

 Braden had a great time sitting with Alex and Addie . . .
 . . . and was thrilled that several parade participants threw freezer pops into the crowd. Mmmmm!

We also got to see Aidan on the Bulltown Baseball float! (He was trying to beam Alex with a piece of candy).

After the parade we visited G&G Hartsock and fed Elise, then headed to Iowa City for lunch and to grab some groceries.  We intended to hit the pool in the afternoon, but ended up choosing to take naps instead.  

Later in the day Addie came over to play . . .

and I attempted to take a pic of B and E in their red, white and blue (this was the best I could get) . . .
 

We wrapped up the festivities with fireworks that evening in Wellman with Auntie Amy, Addie, Aidan, Auntie Allie, and Beth.  The kiddos had fun with sparklers (until B decided to grab one -ouch! . .  then we switched to glo sticks. ;)  Braden kept reminding us the rest of the evening "Do not touch the fire."  (He held an ice pack, and when we got home he had 3 tiny blisters on his thumb, pointer, and middle fingers - I think someone learned a lesson about fire).


(He did love the sparklers though! . . . and note his not-so-white shirt at the end of the day . . . )

It was much cooler (you know, mid 90s) on Wednesday night, and actually was rather pleasant outdoors when the sun went down - so Elise got to come with us to see the fireworks.  This is a terrible photo (dark and blurry due to the fact that I shot it at night and without a flash or tripod) - but I wanted to document how intently she was watching the bursts of color in the sky.  E was enthralled with the "booms," but only saw about half the show before drifting off to sleep in Daddy's arms.