Food, Fun, and Fireworks!

I still remember childhood 4th of July celebrations at my Grandma and Grandpa's house. The swimming pool, the smell of BBQ, the bucket of water on the curb next to the pile of fireworks, grandpa sitting in his recliner refusing to enjoy the festivities, and this sitting in the front bathtub surrounded by towels.......



Oh how I miss those days, how I miss my grandparents. Fast forward to 2009 and we have alot of the same memories. Instead of the swimming pool we have the waterpark (although we did not carve out time for a visit on the 4th, but still...), the BBQ was to die for at the firestation, although my grandpa was not sitting in his chair, Roger (one of the Firefighters) sure was, no bucket of water but the PCF firefighters did a great job building a bonfire (I'm sure the anal retentive captain will be pissed when he arrives back from vacation and finds a pile of ashes in the middle of his masterpiece of a yard), and the fireworks were in the air instead of on the ground...but the boys ABSOLUTELY enjoyed their day as did we!

Awaking to these two little guys puts a smile on my face every single morning. I'm so glad that my boys are friends and love to be together. Of course, I could do without the squabbles, tattling, and the hitting every now and then, but they are boys...what do you expect?

And then there's Matthew....curious and handy. He loves brooms, vacuums, and has now picked up a love for garden tools. He spent upwards of an hour digging in the dirt with the hand-spade at the station. He also enjoyed pulling out all the green flag markers for the sprinklers and twirling them around.

Jim and I rarely take pictures of just the two of us....I look all puffy, but I love the cheesy smile on his face. I'm so lucky to have such a great husband to celebrate special days like this with. Out of nearly 50 people at the station on the 4th, he stood out with the ladies (ha, ha) as they all commented on how cordial he was and how nice it was that he was handy in the kitchen, cleaning up after everyone and making everything sparkle after a large meal. I love you, honey!

Oh, Dominic! What a bundle of energy you are. He tried to keep up with the older boys, but was fine playing by himself. The one thing I do know is that he had a blast either way!

And finally, the fireworks! It was freezing cold outside by the time 9:15pm rolled around, so we loaded everyone into the back of the Tahoe and popped the back window open to enjoy the festivities. Meridian Winery hosts a large celebration each year and since the firestation is on their property, we get the partake in the finale of the night....their $15,000 worth of fireworks. Matthew clapped and yelled YAY the entire time, and we all enjoyed the multitude of colors and arrangements in the sky. The best part about fireworks being illegal is that we had no mess to clean up. We simply loaded everyone up and hit the road after the last BOOM!