A Second Day of Celebration

You gotta love the extra day of celebrating when the holiday falls on the weekend. Somehow, Jonas convinced Shawn that we would be missing some quality family time if we skipped the opportunity of lighting fireworks again. I think there was something about important childhood memories in there, too. We had had enough late nights to last us awhile, so we didn't make any attempt to wait for it to get dark. Jake stopped by to use the computer and we convinced him to stick around for s'mores and fireworks. (Duffy went ahead and went to bed.)

Jake testing out the fire pit.

Roasting the marshmallows to perfection.

Shawn's tasty s'more. We used the really big marshmallows which require a full bar of chocolate and 2 full graham crackers to keep the taste ratio intact.

The fabulous firework show, complete with enthralled audience.

Everyone settling into their seats.

Jake, judging whether the "cricket" was more impressive than "purple rain."

Amelia enjoying the fact that we woke her up to watch.

And, for the finale, everyone enjoying sparklers.

Ah, I love a good holiday - especially one that reminds us of all of our freedoms - and that gives Shawn an extra day off of work!