4th of July

We had a really great 4th of July this year. Steve's aunt, cousin and grandmother (who we stayed with in Missouri) came up to visit. His cousin stayed over at our house for a few days. Shortly after Steve's family came over, we took a short walk down to a church that has a ramp next to the side of the building. The kids love to ride up and down the ramp with their tricycles. We were supposed to see our town's parade, but because it was raining (barely) they cancelled it.

Steve cooked pork ribs on the grill, we had corn on the cob, beans, and potato salad. Of course, Steve's dad brought over some fireworks and Jared and Alexa really enjoyed helping to see off a few.

I just love his little sooty face and hands.

Despite the glare, I really like this picture of Jared and my grandmother peeking out the window to watch the fireworks. We saw in lawn chairs in front of our house and could see the fireworks in the sky pretty well above the houses across the street. They shoot them out of a nearby quarry, and the show is pretty spectacular. Not as good as downtown Chicago, but compared to many larger nearby towns, our town's show rates much higher.

The picture below was actually taken a few days after the 4th at that day Jared spent quite a bit of time trying to dribble. It was so cute! At the YMCA they have a little dribblers class, so I'm hoping it's not too late to sign Jared up for the class.



The kids also had fun catching fireflies with their butterfly nets.