Family 4th!

This year our 4th of July festivities were a bit more quiet due to several families not being able to make it to my parents house. It was still a wonderful celebration though!

 

 

Ga-Ga & Pa looking quite patriotic! Zeke even helped Pa add a little more red to his shirt when he fell out of the truck sandbox and got a bloody lip!

 

 

Love how the balloon got in the picture! Oh yeah and see the herd in the background...more on that later!

 

 

Even though Uncle Ry, Aunt Stephie, Bill, Christina and kids weren't able to join us we see distant relatives...people I had never met before. This is my 3rd cousin Ryan and his wife Ling. They just moved up here from Colorado.

 

 

This is Kelly and Vernita, Ryan's parents. Vernita is my Dad's cousin. They are also from Colorado. They helped Ryan and Ling move up. It was so fun getting to meet them and chat. It's always fun to meet family!

 

 

And what is a day outdoors at Ga-Ga & Pa's without taking a spin in the big ball. You might notice that it's not a big RED ball though....that one bit the dust! So Pa went out and purchased a brand new big BLUE ball for the kids. The blue ball has got a better design in regards to the chambers that hold the air. Hopefully this one will last longer than 2 summers!

 

 

I'm not sure who has more fun...the boys being pushed my Pa or Pa pushing the boys!

 

 

You might remember that Ella Bean was absolutely terrified of the big red ball...we were hoping that she might have warmed up to the idea of it. She actually asked to go inside! I was totally shocked!

 

 

Of course she changed her mind once we got over to the ball, but I was able to convince her sit in there with me holding onto her. Huge step!

 

 

After Ryan and Ling had been at the house for a while they decided to go check out that big blue ball too. Jack helped Ryan push Ling around in the ball. I don't know if she had fun though....I can't tell!

 

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

Even though it wasn't the nicest day the sun did come out for about 45 minutes and there was no denying these kids some sliding time on the slip and slide!

 

He's the winner!!!

 

Taking a spin in the truck sandbox!

 

 

Perfect size for him!

 

 

Handsome boys in there 4th of July clothes courtesy of Aunt Stephie. Of course I never did get a picture of all 4 of the kids in their 4th clothes. Either Zeke was napping or the boys were in their swim trunks.

 

 

Later on we got the kids in their pj's and then Zeke did his best impersonation of an orangutan. 

 

 

This cute 13 month old is still not walking! He is our latest walker. He's started standing up on his own in the middle of the room so I know it's not far off though.

 

 

And of course what's a family celebration without smores!

 

Once the fireworks started...there legal in Orting...we took the boys (Ella and Zeke were in bed) to the front yard to watch them. The people across the street were freaking Michael out because they were not handling their fireworks very responsibly. Owen is our little pyro maniac so he was in heaven. Jack was so completely exhausted that he kept saying he was bored and then he sat on Pa's lap under a blanket and fell asleep! After a while Michael and I went inside...I'm not much for fireworks either and I wanted to watch Vampire Diaries on Netflix! The kids...even the younger ones that were supposed to be a asleep didn't get to sleep until 10:30! Let's just say that Friday wasn't pretty!