4th of July 2019

Since we didn't have the Firecracker 5k on the morning of the 4th I got to sleep in, but the kids were up bright and early at 6:30 am. I got up when the kids got up. Once I had them set up with breakfast and a show, I headed out for my morning run. We were disappointed to miss out on breakfast at McDonald's after the Firecracker 5k so we decided to go to breakfast at McDonald's just for fun that morning. Afterward we walked over to the firework stand by my parents' house and picked up some fireworks, mostly daytime fireworks. Carter was so excited about fireworks he woke up at 6am but we sent him back to bed. He sat in the room quietly playing until Elise woke up, thankfully. He could hardly contain his excitement over fireworks though which was fun! This was the first year he was really into them. He enjoyed lighting the fuses on his own and got so excited to watch them. He still wanted to wear noise cancelling headphones but he wasn't scared of the fireworks at all.

Walking from McDonald's to the fireworks stand.

Elise was wearing the shirt Carter wore 2 years ago so I had to get a picture of them re-enacting their picture from that year. They were super cute! We also had some fun playing with the special Independence Day filters on Snapchat. I love that they do special holiday filters and holidays are the only times all year I even get on Snapchat.

2017 vs. 2019

That afternoon we met up with my friend Erin and her kids and nephew at Kiddieland to ride some rides. Everyone was a little tired and there were some tears over who got to ride with Hayden on rides. Then Carter wanted to ride one last ride with Hayden before they left and the kids got really dizzy spinning in circles. When we got home we had burgers Thomas made and Ty grilled while we were gone. Then we did more fireworks. It was such a long, fun day. We let Elise stay up for the big city fireworks for the first time this year (or so I thought until I looked back at last year's post and realized she stayed up for the fireworks last year too). It was a late night because the fireworks didn't start until 10pm. She did pretty well staying up so late. Both kids were pretty tired though. Carter laid his head in my lap during the show and I thought he was going to fall asleep at one point. He was so cute asking me to take pictures of the fireworks on my phone during the show. We got the kids in bed around 11 after a long and busy day.

Carter all dirty from so much firework fun!

Picture Carter wanted me to take during the firework show.

I love the 4th of July. It's such a fun day and a great reminder of how lucky we are to live in a country whose democracy has worked and been sustained for so many years. I always think of John Adams and how he predicted Americans would be celebrating the day hundreds of years into the future as I am shooting off fireworks on the 4th. I also hate it a little bit because it marks half-way through summer break and I hate to see the summer running away from me. My time home with both kids over the summer is so wonderful and precious to me! Read about our celebration last year here, 2017 here, 2016 here, 2015 here, 2014 here, and 2013 here.