4th of July...catching up finally

Well, regular viewers of this blog will see that I've been a bit behind on posting lately. Here's a photo recap of our 4th of July celebration.

We went to our friends' house for a BBQ and they have a perfect view of the fireworks since they live in a newer development without too many houses blocking the line of sight yet.


Bill's sister Elizabeth, who stayed with us for 2 weeks, was with us for the holiday so, as usual, we hardly had to worry about Drew at all. Here they are playing on the kids' swing set outside.


Daddy & Drew sporting their red white & blue

Mommy & Daddy

Drew & Elizabeth have staked out their prime firework-watching spots atop the swing set

After a little while, Drew decided he'd prefer to trade in the swing set for a view on top of Dad's shoulders.

Drew absolutely loved the fireworks this year and kept asking Mommy to take more pictures of them. The fireworks and Mommy's camera, though, didn't necessarily cooperate. Most of the pictures came out black as night. Here's one I managed. They don't look like much, but I had put my camera away long before the grand finale.

Here's one last one of Drew & Lizzy watching the fireworks from yet another location.

More to come soon.

Our 4th of July: Part 2

So as I mentioned in Part 1 of our 4th of July, we had planned to go to the city park that night to watch the fireworks. We ultimately decided against that in favor of watching it from our backyard for a few reasons:

1) With going for lunch and the circus in Tucson, Drew had only a 30 minute nap the whole day. We didn't think he'd last long awake and thought he might be a bit grumpy due to his exhaustion. Also, this was Drew's first real experience with fireworks. We didn't think he'd be scared, but we weren't sure. Anyhow, all these things are easier to deal with in the comfort of our own home.
2) There was a good chance of a monsoon rolling in either before, during, or after the fireworks and no one wants to be caught in that.
3) We had quite a nice view of the display from our backyard...we could even hear the cannons boom and some of the 1812 overture before the fireworks started.
4) Our patio couch is more comfortable than a blanket on the ground.
5) There's wine at our house.
6) I think it's frowned upon to wear your pajamas at the park (see last pic of Mommy & Drew).

So, Bill opened the wine, Drew grabbed our Americana blanket, we lit the oil lamps outside, and down we sat. Drew managed to stay awake for the first 15 minutes or so, long enough to provide the Wow's and Pretty's you hear in the video, and then was out like a light. He missed quite a finale, as Sierra Vista has the largest finale display in all of Arizona (I know. Weird, right?). Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves and think that the backyard viewing was definitely the right call on our part.