4th of July Recap

You are probably expecting this post to be filled with cute pictures of my children in their matching red, white and blue t-shirts, holding sparklers and enjoying fireworks.

But you won't be seeing any of that in this post. Because my parents took the boys for the entire 4th of July weekend and Brian and I had the chance to just chill by ourselves.

It was still a weekend filled with sparklers and fireworks, but definitely a lot different experience when you don't have your little ones there to "Ooo and Ahhh" over every colorful explosion.

But first, let me back up a bit...

Thursday night, July 3rd, we decided to set off some leftover New Year's Eve fireworks with our neighbors. Parker carried the bag around with him all evening until it was finally dark enough to set them off.

Our neighbor's back yard, just before a storm rolled through earlier in the evening.

Parker inspecting the fireworks bag. I think he would have climbed inside of it if he fit.

Parker and our neighbor, Cameron, watching the bottle rockets.

Our neighbor, Dave, setting off the fireworks in the street.

The kids watching from the back of the car. They loved it!

Then, early Friday morning, July 4th, we met my parents and my brother, his wife and their son, Joel, at the World's Largest McDonald's on I-Drive in Orlando. The place is half restaurant, half Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. There are tons of arcade games, a huge play area with tunnels, and even a mini bowling alley! The kids had a ball playing while the adults chatted.

Apparently, the "kids" weren't the only ones who enjoyed the arcade games. ;)

So once we finished breakfast and kissed everyone goodbye, we all headed out in separate directions... my parents with all three kids (our two, plus my nephew Joel) went back to their house, my brother and his wife went house hunting, and Brian and I headed back to Tampa... with a quick stop at the Orlando outlet malls.

In celebration of the 4th, I ordered a fancy watermelon margarita at lunch. Because when it's an American holiday and you have no kids with you, it just seems like the right thing to do!

And then we went to a 4th of July celebration at a local harbor that had live music, tons of food/product vendors and more people watching that anyone could ask for!

A view of the boardwalk where we watched fireworks that evening.

Lots of happy folks enjoying the 4th. You can see the band stage in the background.

Just chillin.

Obligatory "selfie" on the pier.

Then a quick rain shower came through, which didn't deter people one bit. Most folks just went under one of the many picnic shelters and then once the rain died down, everyone went right back to their seats. And then this beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky!

The fireworks were stunning!

 It was a wonderful, relaxing 4th of July.

The next day we enjoyed a very lazy morning, did some work around the house, ran errands, and then went to meet some friends at a local marina for dinner.

It was so nice to have a weekend to ourselves. We relished every minute of sleeping in, watching non-cartoon shows on TV, not paying a babysitter, and quietness... but I also missed my boys so much.

We were very happy to have our little guys home on Sunday evening.

I hope you had wonderful 4th of July and that you are enjoying your summer. The next several weeks are full of travel and family fun for us, so I won't be very visible around here. Enjoy the rest of your summer and be safe!