4th of July, 10 days later

I love the 4th of July. It's a big holiday for our family. The best were spent at aunt Doris' pool. We'd get there about 11:30 and us kids made a B line for the pool. Living in the Tri-Cities almost always promised a hot lovely day. The food was always plentiful and good. The day went like this, swim and eat. Swim and eat. Launch each other off of the inflated water bed mattress and then more swimming. If we were lucky, my mom's little brothers would be there. It was then guaranteed our days fun to be magnified 10x.

We set off our own fireworks. I miss that. Seeing the block come together with a show of pyrotechnic American pride. Running in the front yard with sparklers. Homemade ice cream passed to the neighbors.

The DeCoursey family got just a little bit of that nostalgia back this year my friends. Tired at the thought of going anywhere for the 4th, we opted for staying home. We did want to go over to Seattle, but it would've been too short of notice.

The weather report wasn't good for the 4th. It got to just about 71 that day, much to cold to swim or play in the water. The girls didn't seem to mind much. Lindsay did give the slip n slide a try, I must commend her for that.

We thought a good way to pass the time till the evening was to go to the movies. Popcorn and soda were only a dollar and the movie was 5 bucks a person. Good deal. The girls picked 'The Last Airbender'. We all loved it.

Jeff grilled burgers and riblets, I made your typical side dishes. I was quite proud of the watermelon-strawberry-lemonade, very refreshing.

I must make it clear that fireworks are banned in our area and we always follow the rules....heh. Evening came and the girls could wait no longer. The sparklers must be used (or maybe they weren't)!!! Our whole neighborhood was lit up with personal displays of fireworks (allegedly). People even splurged on large aerial explosions (somewhere else). Jeff and the girls played with ground bloom flowers (for pretend only, I swear). We also had a gorgeous fountain that was huge and seemed to go on forever. It was so loud! (I'll deny it to the end)
Before bed, we broke out the homemade ice cream. Delicious.

Next year, I think we'll be up at the Brinkerhoff lake houses. I hope it will be hot next year, I hope, I hope!