49 Days of Summer- Happy Fourth of July!

Fourth = Fireworks, Family, and Friends

What do you do on July 4? Anything special? Do you have a special tradition or is every year a surprise? 

Ours is more of a mixed bag, but the actual day, more recently, has always ended with fireworks. I've always been able to see them over the holiday weekend and the one year I didn't, Jeremy hasn't forgotten about because I was miserable. I LOVE THEM. The kids and Jeremy enjoy them too, but this is a must-do on my holiday list. See fireworks with family.

This year we were back in Lima for the Star Spangled Spectacular, and spectacular they are. We have watched them here for the past six years or so and I'm always amazed at how long they last and how stunning the show is. 

This year was no different. We didn't make it down to the park until about 30 minutes before. Typically we camp out on the street, but opted for a lawn chair in the grass this year. We still took the double stroller down with the kids. Isaac is too big for it, but it makes life 100% easier when the show is over and it's time to walk with thousands of other spectators back to our car. Ear muffs are encouraged too. This is the first year in a while we forgot. But we didn't forget the bug spray- another good idea if you don't want to itch all day on July 5!

So from our family to yours, have a wonderful Fourth of July.  

 

50 Days of Summer- Sparkler Fun

What would 4th of July be without Sparklers?

I'm not a big fan of letting my kids near fire, but on July 4, they got to get in on the fun a little. Sparklers seems like the perfect ticket. Just enough magic to have fun, but not enough that I have to worry about them seriously hurting themselves.

With a bunch of packets of sparklers in hand and a water bucket to put them into after (we learned our lesson last year when Isaac tried to pick back up the sparkler and touched the hot end!) we set them free to swirl around all night. My brother had picked up some other smoke bombs and we watched Jeremy and him be stupid smoking the porch, but the kids were content with their cheap sparklers.

For an hour the kids tried spelling their names and at one point Isaac ran around with two at a time swirling them in the air. We had neon sparklers this year that were bigger and lasted longer, but weren't as cool as I thought it was going be. Oh well, we tried. Save yourself the extra few bucks and just get the cheap old regular sparklers.

Tomorrow we'll be heading back to Lima for the fireworks, but until we get to see them, we'll have our own show!