Good Ol Fashioned Fourth

So we had a lovely time here in Texas on the Fourth. We had a killer barbeque at our house, Adam made some great burgers, Dale brought gourmet hot dogs, and thanks to Dee's recipe the potato salad we made was a big hit, too! After we ate we headed over to the ball fields for McKinney's Red White and Boom celebration. It was fun. There were so many people there, they had a live concert with Josh Gracin, a kids zone with lots of free (and some not) stuff to do, and many other things. We set up a camp of several blankets spread on the ground and spread out to enjoy the festivities. Steph and Dale (despite the danger to their eardrums) went right up to the stage to enjoy the music. It was so dang loud the kids were all covering their ears way back at the end of the fields where we were. Justin took all the kids on in a game of keep away with the soccer ball. I took some kids over to check out the kid zone and do a couple inflatable slides, and Tammy goodnaturdely practiced her mom skills on Nate.

We brought lots of sodas in our ghetto cooler (Justin's old backpack with a zip-lock baggie full of ice) and the kids had fun sharing. Little Brittany would hardly let Brooke take a sip! She would barely get it tipped up high enough for the soda to touch her lips and Britt would grab for it. I think she thought it would be gone before she could have another turn. But the three little girls (Ash, Brooke, and Brittany) passed the can sweetly around to each other to share. (Not very sanitary but very cute.)

The kids had a small huddle to try and figure out how to beat Uncle Justin.

Nate clung to me, as usual.

And after our messing around for a while, the fireworks were a big hit--excepting only the loud noise! Considering the noise and late hour, all the kids were great. They were only sad when it was time to go home. We decided to go back next year!