Our 4th of July

Our 4th of July was spent with our best friends here in Charlottesville. Jamie and Melissa hosted a great get-together before we went to see the fireworks that night. Lance celebrated with his dad and had a great time, too!

It was so fun to be with all these neat families.

Jude loved hanging out with his best buddies.

Looks like the food was a hit!

We brought some hot wings and this fun drink. It's just Sprite, but I froze some concentrated Kool-Aid in the shape of stars. When you put it all together, it made for a festive, tasty drink. The kids all thought it was great.

Oh, and we made these cookies, too! I've posted the recipe before, but here it is again if you want it. They are seriously so good and HUGE. I mean, this one was as big as Jude's face.

Cole was an angel as usual, thanks to all the attention he got from his adoring fans. 

I love our friends!

The Francolms with Steph Brown and her baby Ivy.

Dickensons with Ben and another couple (I can't for my life remember their names).

 George and Rod.

 We had a freakish storm the Friday before and it toppled several trees. The kids thought this log was something special and kept flocking to it. Uh, Jude, what's up with your face?

 Apparently he really liked that icing off the cupcakes.

 

Such wonderful ladies. I am lucky to have these girls as my friends!

Our attempt at a family picture. It was hot.

After we ate, we went out front to set off some fireworks and do sparklers for the kids when we were spotted by another resident that reminded us that fireworks were not permitted. So we ran down the hill and did them anyway. 

The kids were so excited. They were yelling "yay!" as they ran all the way down the hill.

We finally made it to a quiet dead-end so we could start the show.

Love these kids!

Watching the one that sounded like a gun. It flew pretty high!

Sparklers! Some of the neighborhood kids came out when they heard the fireworks, so we ended up sharing our sparklers with everyone. 

It was perfect. These kids thought it was great! I wish it had been a bit darker, but we needed to pack up and head to the real fireworks show at the park.

 George and I loaded the two little boys into the van and fought traffic to find a place at the park to watch the show.

Waiting for the fireworks to start.

We ended up sitting with the Smiths and a few other families.

Watching. They gave out these 3D glasses that made the fireworks rainbow-y. I wasn't a huge fan and even Jude put them down in preference for the real thing.

Jude was pretty scared of the loud noises at first and kept hiding his head, but as the show went on, he gained confidence. I think it helped when he started pretending to punch the fireworks. What a funny kid.

Cole thought it was great!

We had a great 4th of July! The only thing that could have made it any better would have been Lance there enjoying it with us.