Friends, Family and the 4th of July

Wow... what a fun "stay-cation" we had for the 4th of July. We had lots of fun enjoying our local amenities with just the four of us. Well, the four of us and our neighbors. We ended up spending almost every day with another family that lives down the street from us. They have three children, and Payton adores them. Plus, their youngest is just over 2-years old, so they aren't too removed from the "baby phase" of life and understand how we roll with Parker.
We kicked off the weekend with a pizza party on Friday night at our house. After dinner, we walked up to our local "downtown" area and enjoyed the "First Friday Concert Series." It had rained earlier in the evening, so the weather was nice and breezy and not hot at all. After listening to some music, playing some corn hole and letting the kids bounce in the bouncehouses, we ended up back at our neighbor's house for a little night swimming (Payton's favorite!).
Saturday morning, we all slept in and then went out to breakfast at our local "greasy spoon" cafe. We followed that up with a visit to the neighboring Dollar Store to load up on 4th of July essentials: Silly String Spray, neon glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and pop cap fireworks. We had a nice lazy day on Saturday and then went to Busch Gardens that evening with the same neighbors. BG has a great show during the summer called "Kinetix." For those of you who live in Tampa, you've GOT to go see this show. It's amazing! The kids had so much fun! After the show, they did a special 4th of July fireworks show. Again, amazing! You can imagine how incredible a fireworks show is at a theme park. It did not disappoint!
Sunday morning we all headed off to church and then back home again for a lazy afternoon and naps. That evening we joined some friends at their new house for dinner. It was another very fun (but late) night. Needless to say, we needed to sleep in on 4th of July... which we did! Payton even slept until almost 9 a.m.!
After a big breakfast at home, Brian and Payton headed out and bought some fireworks. Then we loaded up and walked down to our neighbors house again. We spent the afternoon swimming, playing cornhole, darts, pool games and enjoying good friends. The evening was super fun and filled with lots and lots of fireworks.
All in all, a very fun weekend and one that we will remember forever! Enjoy these fun pics of all the festivities, along with some other random pics of Parker...