After all the fun we had last year, we were looking forward to celebrating our nation's independence at the Roanoke event again! The boys had an absolute blast! This celebration is a first class event with so much for the kids to do, and we are always impressed with nice and easy it is. There's no hassle, not too much walking and everything is very clean.
We met up with the Carlsons on Tuesday night and grabbed our perfect spot to watch the fireworks. We were lucky to get the exact same place as last year! After setting up our blankets and coolers, we went down to the bounce houses where the kids slid down the huge slide. Just like last year, Dickey's BBQ was serving bbq beef sandwiches, chips and a drink for $3... You can't beat that! So after playing and meeting the firefighters, we headed back to our picnic area to enjoy dinner and let the kids run around. Just before dark, we walked down to the fire station to check out the shiny red engines. Luke was afraid of sitting on them by himself, but he was perfectly fine in Mommy's lap! After visiting with the friendly firefighter, who let the kids jump inside the truck, we headed back to our spot to watch the fireworks. The kids ran around with their glow necklaces that Jill gave them waiting for the show to begin. When the fireworks started, most of us awed in excitment... except poor Luke. He jumped up about ten feet and ran into the arms of the nearest adult- Jill. Poor little guy was startled and frightened by the loud pop. He immediately sat in my lap and begged to go back to the car and go home. My heart dropped as I felt his body tremor. But I held him tight with his head against me and my hand covering his other ear to drown out the noise. This helped, and he sat still watching the pretty colors light up the sky. He also began naming the different colors. The show was amazing with a spectacular grand finale, everyone's favorite part!
Men in Red
Me and my Boys!
The firefighters gave the boys fire hats and sticker badges
Waiting to sled down the slide
How funny is this? Jill and I showed up in the exact same outfit... not deliberately, of course! At least our shoes were different.
The boys about to sled down the slide. They loved this!
Luke was not a fan of sitting on the truck by himself.
Everything is better when we're on momma's lap!
Hudson thought he was pretty cool to sit up in the fire engine. He told the fireman that he wanted to be a firefighter when he grows up too!
Snack time while waiting for the show to begin
On Wednesday, our family of four went to Hawaiian Falls to take advantage of the nice weather and get use of our season passes. We adventured out and tried some even bigger slides this time! I was very proud of Hudson for being so brave! Luke wanted to go down everything, but some of them he just wasn't quite tall enough yet. Only a few more inches, so I bet he'll be able to go down almost everything by the end of the summer. If not, then next year for sure!
Arriving at Hawaiian Falls
After our morning of fun in the sun, Mimi and Papa came over for some coffee and sherbert to celebrate Mimi's birthday. She's an independence baby, so we get to celebrate her on this day each year also.
Our new next door neighbors invited us over to grill out last night, so we ended our holiday with several of our new neighbors for a BBQ. The boys swam in their pool, and did NOT want to leave that evening. They really enjoy our neighbor's pool!
Another advantage of living outside the city limits- fireworks! This was SO COOL! Once it was dark last night, our subdivision lit up with fireworks from all sort of houses in every direction. We're thinking a Fourth of July party next year would be perfect! Especially since we can watch fireworks in our backyard- and even light some if we want! We were back home from the neighbors once the fireworks started, so Luke was inside and not as afraid this time. But he kept saying, "Mommy, fireworks go pop... I'm afraid." He gets this from his Mommy who was also scared when she was little of the loud boom from fireworks.
