Going out with a BANG

 It's our last 4th of July in the states (for a while anyway) so we made it a good one.  We'll be staying at Nana's for a couple weeks until we head to the Netherlands, and the littles are getting more spoiled by the day.  This holiday was no exception.  We started the day off by using some free passes to Caitlin's water park that she's working at for the summer.

Here we are in our swimsuits and patriotic coverups...

K's the only one who will pose for me...

 Nana had a matching coverup of course...

Then we headed home for a big dinner.  Nikki and her kids came over too.  I had some helpers with the desserts, mostly they helped eating them...

As soon as it got dark we drove out to the lake to watch the fireworks.  The cousins all sat on top of our cars for the show.  Then, we went back home for the REAL show.  My mom never let us blow stuff up when we were kids, so Ryan takes over this holiday by busting out the explosives and putting on his own show.  My mom stayed upstairs in her room (probably with her head under the covers and keys in hand ready to drive someone to the hospital), and the rest of us sat back and watched…well, after we did some sparklers first…

Here are the guys watching the show.  Can't you see the little wheels turning in their heads?  PLEASE don't try this at home...

Poor Shelby had a meltdown when she heard all the fireworks.  It was hillarious, I wish I would've gotten a video.  It was youtube material.  Nana's little clone...

I'm not sure how we're going to celebrate in Europe, but I'm sure we'll think of something fun.