Happy 4th of July!

We love the 4th of July! I wish I had all of my old (really old!) photos on hand to scan in a photo of my siblings and I all dressed in flag attire. Quite cheesy to think about NOW, but I think we looked cool, back in the 80's! :)

Anyway...this past weekend found us back on the road again, back to IL for the annual 4th of July gathering. It's total tradition: Andy goes nuts blowing his birthday money on fireworks in WI and then we "sneak" them into IL where he and his brothers put on a show for all of us. It just started happening when we had kiddies that went to bed WAY before fireworks shows, yet we didn't want to miss the fun.
It's so great--private show and no traffic to battle once the show is over!

We also take in a parade about 20 minutes from Andy's parents' home. It is VERY fun and FULL of candy. All the kiddos that collected candy filled a gallon ziplock bag. Even Ellie, only putting in "safe" candy in her bag, nearly filled it full.

Here are some photos from the fun:
1) Jayna, Rebekah, Ellie. 2) Abby and Ava. 3) Jimmy, Andy, Ben & Colin.

1) Ellie & Colin (with a bow for the photo!). 2) Bed and Colin "two". 3) Ben wearing Wesley's bib....Ben was pretending he was born in the USA! :)

1) Jayna & Colin waiting for the parade. 2) Colin then moved to Uncle Jimmy--still waiting for the parade. 3) Colin and tall Uncle Ben....STILL waiting for the parade!

1) Colin eating. Yum! 2) Colin showing off his shovel. 3) Colin LOVING the sandbox!

We also celebrated Andy's birthday with is family--his mom had found cool sparkler candles...but by the time we celebrated, could only find the 3! The candle was VERY cool.

Upper left photo: the fireworks "team": Andy, Ben, Jimmy, Jimmy's girlfriend Brett. They did an amazing job....very neat, very loud, very colorful!

And not photographed this year: fun with far away friends on the 4th at Andy's parents'; the annual 4th of July BBQ Rib Feast, swimming as much as the little munchkins can handle, and a little reading about the first flag ever sewn and the reason behind it! It was a fast trip, but a fun and "full" trip! Happy Independence, America!!