Oh, Say Can You See...

So, the Fourth seemed a little anti-climactic this year. I think we all missed being in Marquette for this holiday. It's just hard to beat watching the fireworks over Lake Superior, not to mention all our family up there. Despite that, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we had some fun. I love doing little holiday themed things with Anna because she gets so excited for any type of celebration. We did some 4th of July crafts this week. She's in the middle of figuring out what patriotism is, what a country is, and why a flag can be so significant. Speaking of flags, notice the cake Anna and I made today. She LOVED this. She even did the entire last row of strawberries without any help...and wanted them facing a different way, but did manage to keep a straight line. :) I think I saw it in a magazine: cake mix, cool whip topping, then add the stars and stripes. So fun! So yummy! I think this will become a tradition.


We got all decked out before heading down to the little festival our town was having. Anna was very excited about the bows on her piggy-tails. I was excited that the kid's "patriotic" shirts still fit them from last year. (Ben-Ben's was huge on him a year ago because size 12 months was the smallest they had. :) Anna noticed Ethan wasn't as patriotic as the rest of us, so she gave him a little suggestion: "I know Daddy, why don't you get a hat with stars on it. Because that's what the 4th of July is all about." Hmmm. Like I said, she's still learning about this holiday.

The town festival was small, but had a few things that caught our attention. The dunk tank confused Anna. She was most excited about the bounce house, but she also found the war/army display interesting too. Anna crawled through the tent, marveled at the machine gun, and tried throwing a grenade (which was pretty heavy). In the middle picture above, you can see a man demonstrating how to loft a grenade through the air. He then let Anna have a turn, and she somehow managed to throw it directly behind her. Luckily no one was hit with it. Ethan and I were excited to get an elephant ear to share...until we realized it was $4. Geez people! (I know that's probably a typical price for "fair food," but we were caught off gaurd anyway.)

I love pictures of my two babies together. Ahhh...such cuties!

After a yummy dinner - brats, corn on the cob, fresh cherries, carrots, sun chips and cake - we went out for some sparkler/smoke bomb fun. I LOVE Anna's expression in the first picture. Benjamin just wanted to try to grab the sparklers. Finally, he gave up on that, and went to find some pine cones and bark to eat. He is such a naughty pants!

We ended up the day with some stories and a bath time. The kiddies were pretty exhausted, and were in bed at 7:25...five minutes before bedtime. Nice. We told Anna we'd wake her up when it was time for some fireworks, and we will; we're just hoping that she's too tired to go watch. (We can see them right next to our apartments if she so chooses. One of us could take her out to the big grassy hill.) Ethan and I plan on having a very much anticipated date night (a rented movie and snacks) after an exhausting, physically/ mentally/emotionally draining week for us. But enough about that...Hope you all had a fantastic Fourth!