Monday, the 4th - the evening

Once Biju and Ajay got back from dropping Bino off at the airport it was time to start aiming our sights on the evenings events.  We grabbed some watermelon and fireworks and headed out to spend the holiday with some great friends.  We try to get together with these two families on a regular basis.  Our goal is monthly but usually end up with quarterly visits.  Such is the way with three busy families with little ones. 

We let the children loose (8 kiddos, including the littlest ones).  There was some playing upstairs, downstairs and outside.  At one point Ellie came in crying and we were told that she had been stung by a wasp.  Lisa, of course, started treatment for a wasp sting, as any mother would do.  It was later discovered, however, that Ellie had burned her little fingers on the not-yet-cool grill. 

Time for a deluge of photos.  I think I got a shot of everyone there. 

Feeding the children dinner.



Daddios with Aren.



Ellie cooling her little burned fingers.

Working on some daylight fireworks.



The kids (and dads) loved setting everything off.  (That's a smoke bomb that Biju helped Alex with.)

Ellie did NOT want to be a part of the lighting of the works so she hung out with her ice water and her mama in the back of our van.



Ronnie and Russell supervising.



Me w/ Aren, Angie w/ Jonah.



It was a long, hot day - can you tell?

My favorite photo of the evening!!

After we wrapped up the daytime stuff we went inside for a sweet treat.  Angie had made a delicious dessert - a little bit of sin topped with fresh berries to make you feel a little better about eating it.  (You can see a picture of it here.)  Nighttime fireworks followed and, as always, it was fun to see so many pretty colors exploding across the sky. 

It was great the way the timing worked out this year.  We were able to celebrate the Fourth on two separate evenings - I wish it could be like that every year!