Fun and Freedom on the Fourth

Today we had our 4th of July celebration at Mom and Ron's house. Meghan and the kids were planning to come over for the evening, but I came over during the kids' naptime for gametime. Andrew brought bocce ball, so we decided to spend our time playing that, and it was a ton of fun. Andrew, Kirk, Brent, and I played for a couple hours. It was Brent's first time to play, so we were excited to introduce him to our favorite yard game.
Joanna and Kirk were in town for event (Joanna is actually staying even longer to be here for Benjamin's birthday next weekend), and they got to have some time with their nieces and nephews.

And America wasn't the only thing that was born on this day.  Ron's birthday is today as well, and since Mom's birthday wasn't that long ago, we had a joint celebration for them, including this tasty cake.

We were somehow able to get a couple pretty good pictures of just the siblings and then the cousins.  But as anyone who was outside with us can attest: it was not easy.

When it was time for fireworks, we went to the same location we've been to the last couple years only to find the road closed.  It was a great location because it was right next to the field where they shoot the fireworks, so the view was outstanding (and being very close to the fireworks is important to me).  But I found a spot right across the street by the OMC Pavilion.  It was still very close, so the view was great.  Since it was our first time in that location, the downside was I wasn't familiar with the traffic patterns getting out of there (since the cops route everyone along certain paths through the surrounding streets), so it took forever to leave.  But now that I know, I'll be better prepared for next year for our departure from that location.  We got there a few minutes early, though not as early as I'd hoped due to the location switch, and we passed the time by playing with the glow-in-the-dark necklaces that Aunt Julie gave to us.

The kids did really well.  We weren't sure about Joshua, because he had expressed some trepidation in the past couple days, but he did great.  He started by plugging his ears for a few minutes and sitting in Meghan's lap, but then he realized it wasn't too loud or too scary, and he went over and sat in his chair.  Hannah wasn't too sure about the fireworks at first, as you can see from here skeptical/concerned face, but she too quickly got over it and enjoyed the show.  It was yet another great 4th of July!