much fourth of July-edness

I love the fourth of July.  I've stated in other posts that, for some reason, I have the ability to remember fourth of July pasts more vividly than other holidays.

This year, like all the others, is sure to be a fourth of July that I will remember, too.  We  started the day at a pancake breakfast at our church.  They had a flag raising ceremony first (and can I get a woot! woot! that ALL my kids, even Bogey the 4-year-old could say the Pledge of Allegiance?!)

After we raised the flag, they had a bike parade.  Actually, I should back up and say that the night before we were up late decorating our bikes and scooters for the parade.  So, please note the decorations on the bike and scooter.  I went to help the parade participants to their places, and later found several of these little gems on my camera:

They are both so handsome!

Bogey got shy (so rare for him) at the last minute and refused to ride in the parade.  He watched right here from the side lines. 

All the kids are lined up at the starting, waiting for the signal.  Dev and Calvin are on the left.  See them?

Dev was excited that someone threw her a piece of candy

Calvin's just happy to be there!

Bogey's mad at himself for not joining the fun

 The parade was a lot of fun, and it was over very quickly.  Still, my kids rode around the church several more times.

We had a BBQ later, just our family.  That's the way I wanted it.  We made hamburgers and kabobs, but the kabobs were so stinkin' good that we didn't get to the hamburgers until last night. Sorry, I was too busy eating to take pictures of our BBQ.

Just imagine a scene similar to this right here.

In Idaho, where I grew up, it's illegal to buy certain kinds of fireworks.  Particularly the ones that explode in the air.  Here, there is no such law.  I have never been so amazed by store bought fireworks.  Wowza! These people go all out!  We walked to the community fireworks show, and all along the road we were surrounded by "bombs bursting in air"  to the point that I began to imagine how I would feel if I really were in a war zone and fighting for my freedom.  It was very incredible to see explosions all around me.  (and a little intimidating)

Again, sorry, I didn't even think to take pictures at the fireworks show (we made it there safely, thank goodness!)  But I have to mention how cute lil' Jelly Bean was at his first fireworks show.  I thought for sure he'd be nervous, as were his brothers at his age.  But after every boom, he clapped his hands and yelled, "yeah!"  and smiled.  He never lost interest, and kept his gaze to the sky almost the entire time.

After traipsing, again, through what felt like a war zone to get home, we lit a few of our own fireworks.  That's when I remembered to take pictures.  In case you aren't aware, fireworks are hard to take pictures of.  This is all I managed to get:

lighting one

It's not much to look at, but that top light exploded about 1/8th of a second after I took the picture. 

I took a bunch of random pictures of blackness that I figured you don't really want to see. And we let the kids run around with a sparkler in each hand. I didn't pull out the camera until right before the last one went out.  (shame on me) so, this fourth of July?  memorable, yes.  Well documented?  no.  I'll work on that.

In the meantime, God bless America!