firework fun

True to tradition, we traveled to Logan the night before the 4th to watch the fireworks with my family. The girls always have a grand time running around on the grass with their cousins before the fireworks and then huddling together on a blanket to watch the display. Claire loved her first fireworks too! She pointed and squealed at each one.

I sure love watching the kids experience something for the first time!

Along with the fireworks, we have another little tradition to celebrate the 4th of July. It's totally crazy and was thought up by my party animal sister, Kerri. Following the fireworks, the kids all gather at Grandma and Grandpa's house to play night games. The crazy thing about this is that we don't get back from Logan until almost 1:00 am. And for a non-night owl like me,that makes for a pretty late night. But as you can imagine, the kids absolutely love it!

This year we invited everyone to our house for the night game event. We missed the Sfamily and Chris and Amy's kids. Oh, and me. We missed me too. It all sounds like so much fun during the daylight hours, but by the time midnight rolls around, I'm no good at all. Courtney took pity on me and sent me to bed while he and Kerri captained the event. Even little Emmy stayed up with the big kids this year. She thought she was pretty big stuff!

From all reports, everyone had a great time. Aunt Kerri provides glow sticks for the kids to make into necklaces, which is always a big hit. Favorite games include Steal the Flag and Kick the Can. Finally at almost 3:00 am, the kids were shooed into the playhouse to go to sleep.

(That was the plan anyway, but you can imagine how that goes!)

A big old thank you to Aunt Kerri for all the fun. If it wasn't for her, this beloved tradition would have died in it's tracks years ago thanks to all of us boring old folks who would rather sleep than run around in the moonlight wearing a glow stick around our neck. (Call us crazy.)

I've already invited everyone back next year, and I've let them know ahead of time: I'll go ahead and sacrifice playing the games so I can wake up and make breakfast. I wouldn't want anyone going hungry on my account!