Not the 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July the 1st through 3rd. As a matter of fact, as I write this, the fireworks show is just starting downtown and our kids are in bed. But don't think they missed out on Independence Day fun. There was plenty of it!

We started out the week with our traditional holiday craft. We got the idea for these handprint eagles out of Family Fun magazine (I think). That day, I became the coolest Mommy (in my kids' eyes). They loved getting messy and feeling the paint squish between their fingers. They've requested we do a similar activity for every holiday.

We made a valiant attempt and red and blue pudding pops, but instead got red and green. No matter how much blue food coloring I put in, I just couldn't get blue. Oh well, at least we know of a good Christmas treat.

Then finally, yesterday (3rd) we surprised the kids with a trip to a hot air balloon/4th of July festival in a town a little over an hour north of us. There, Ava had her face painted and Jax his arm (he has been told one too many times that make-up is for girls, so thought it a bit manlier to have it put on his arm).

Once the paint dried, we headed over the jumping castles, where Jax's obscene amounts of sweat melted said paint off. It was fun while it lasted.

When they were all jumped out we headed over to a very amusing magician. I love that Ava is at the age now where she gets subtle jokes and giggles like crazy at them. What's even better is Jax laughs at his sister laughing. During the show we enjoyed some classic southern fried fare which we later washed down with a delish snow cone. As we indulged ourselves in the syrupy goodness that was the Bahama Mama snowcone we got to watch the hot air balloons being blown up and lit up against the night sky.

We had a perfect view of a GIGANTIC dragon which we were so excited to see lit up, but unfortunately, just before it's tail was full of air the big guy went tumbling down. The kids were disappointed by the downed dragon, but all was well when the fireworks hit the sky.

The show lasted close to 30 minutes, and I'm not sure which I preferred to watch more -- the fireworks, or the looks on my kids' faces. They oohed and aahed, they stared in awe, Ava described the sounds as booms, blasts and the sky being torn. Jax, simply liked the "big ones."

Before we left, Ava told me this was the best surprise in her life. It was certainly a wonderful day and I'm just so thankful to have Andy to ourselves on weekends now, so we can share in such fun times and make such great memories.