The perfect 4th of July

     Well, it did rain for part of the day… so I suppose it wasn’t technically perfect—but we had TONS of fun so I’m happy as could be. Plus, the rain made me remember the many rainy 4ths I had with my family when I was growing up. 
    Since the 4th was on a Sunday this year, I couldn’t help but dress Addie and myself up in the most patriotic church outfits I could muster (Sam wore a red tie, but that was all we could really do for him). Aren’t we slightly tacky super cute?!

I almost didn't post this next one because I look like a barge in it, but I couldn't deny the mommy/daughter cuteness:

I've decided that being pregnant is one of the most patriotic things a person could do... I'm creating a whole new American, after all! So here I am, in my 36 weeks pregnant patriotism:

     Our dear friends the Paternosters invited us over to their place with some of our other friends for an afternoon BBQ and party. It was super fun! I definitely look forward to spending future holidays with the great friends we’ve made here.

And here are Addie and her bff Brooklyn. Brooklyn’s giving her a bit more love than she was prepared for at the moment though:

     We didn’t go down to the city fireworks this year because 1) it was Sunday and we wanted to keep it more low-key. 2) it was rainy. and 3) I’m REALLY pregnant and sitting out stranded in the middle of a huge crowd for hours on end didn’t really appeal to me.
     We did, however, buy our own fireworks and light them off. It was SUPER fun!!! Sam and I haven’t ever done that together, and now that we have Addie—we wanted to make sure that she had the best day possible. She was just sooooo cute. Completely full of oohs and ahs and instantly asking for more the second a firework ran out. She was just all about it and we loved watching her. Seriously, I think it made it my favorite day of being a parent to date. I can’t tell you how excited I am now that Addie really is old enough to fully appreciate and participate in holidays. It fills me up with happies inside.

 

     We drove to a neighborhood school a mile or so from our house so set off our fireworks. Apparently it’s illegal to set them off in Renton proper, but we live right on the limits so we didn’t have to go far at all to go crazy. I couldn’t BELIEVE how many cool aerial fireworks there were. Seriously, the whole area was like driving through a really pretty war zone, lol. I’m happy to be back in the NW where all of the fun fireworks are allowed!

     Here’s some footage of the fireworks. At about 50 seconds, you can hear how addie would repeat “Ready!!!” over and over again until the next firework was set off. Man was she wired, it was just too fun to watch.