Red, White, and BOOM!

After being down and out with Covid last year on Independence Day and missing out on several planned celebrations - and me having a broken ankle the year before - we were ready to enjoy some celebrations this year! 

Independence Day was on a Tuesday, but we began our celebrating on the Saturday prior at the Burkholder's house. This is a simple and fun gathering that we really enjoyed two years ago, so we were excited to go again!

Brecklyn, Brianna, and Brooke enjoying popsicles!

This year, the Burkholder's opened their pool up to a few guests they invited to come early. We were on the list, and the girls had a blast swimming.

Brecklyn and Brooke

Brecklyn, Brenson, Brooke

While Bren and some of the other boys swam in the pool for a little while, it was pretty short-lived. The girls were thankful when they got out as they were being pretty wild! The boys moved on to playing some football and jumping on the trampoline.

Football is not Bren's sport of choice, but he had fun playing!

Chelle, Bri, and Chris waiting for fireworks to begin

The sunset was so pretty that night.

Just after dark, Jason began his epic fireworks show. His show is as good as many professional shows we've seen! While we were enjoying the fireworks, Brecklyn was sitting on my lap in a fold-up camp style chair. At one point, she got a little frightened and jerked back, causing us both to tip over backwards in the chair. I was thoroughly embarrassed, but we got a good laugh out of it!

For the past several years, we've had ice cream and fireworks with our church family around Independence Day. However, it was a little bit of a mess last year, so we (Tia and I) decided we weren't going to plan anything this year. No one else arranged it, either, so it didn't happen. However, we did invite the S family to our house for a few fireworks on the evening of July 3rd. 

We had to have treats. Because of course!

Sparklers are always a hit!

Bren and the ladies with sparklers

Brecklyn

Brooke

Sadie

Caroline with Bren in the background

Bren

Bri wasn't really into sparklers this year, but she had fun watching the other kids with me.

Cuties in their July 4th bling!

At dusk, we set off a few small fireworks. I think the kids enjoy lighting them more than watching them :-).

After we tired of fireworks, we moved the party to the backyard where the little girls put on a show for us.

Then, we all sat around the fire and told stories until late into the night. It was so fun!

It's always kind of strange when July 4th falls in the middle of the week like it did this year. Chris had the day off work, so we took the opportunity to sleep late and have a slow start to the morning. Then, we went to Mom and Dad's house for lunch. We visited with them a while before returning home for a relaxing afternoon. 

We didn't set off any of our own fireworks that evening, but we did enjoy allllll the fireworks going off all around us. It was certainly nice to be able to relax and enjoy the day, while appreciating the freedoms we are blessed with in this country!