Independence Day.

Boy was it hot this July 4th, our nation's Independence Day - hot with no breeze. But despite the sweltering weather, we had a really great day.

First we watched our neighborhood parade. It was a bit short this year, but a couple of the floats were pretty neat. Mateo particularly enjoyed the sucker he scored from the candy throwers (rather the sucker his mommy scored for him). Then we walked over to the park where they had their annual festival going on. Free watermelon on a hot day is always a delight! He played on the playground until he finally said "done."

On the way to the car he said he wanted to swim, so once we got home we filled his kiddie pool up. The dogs helped.

After a nice nap and some play time, our friends Andres, Deanna, and Dane came over for dinner. I made some pulled bbq pork using my own bbq sauce I made the day before. (For the sake of full disclosure I'll admit that before serving I cut some Rudy's sauce into my own. I wasn't pleased with how mine turned out.) The meal turned out to be really good, though - especially the banana pudding I made. It really gives the pudding at Rudy's a run for it's money. (Thanks, Brenda, for the recipe!) After dinner we played Bunco (small group version).

Thankfully we live in a great neighborhood that does the Fourth of July just right. Within walking distance from our house is where they host the big fireworks show, so that's where we went. Mateo was wide-eyed the entire walk talking non-stop about all the colors. (In our neighborhood it's legal to use fireworks, so everyone was out doing exactly that.) Before the big show started, I brought out some glow bracelets as a surprise. They were really my backup distraction material in case he didn't like the fireworks, but he ended up loving both. We much enjoyed watching his excitement over the whole thing.

Once home I put Mat to bed (now THAT was an ordeal since it was two hours past his bedtime), and the rest of us kept playing dice games. Farkle is lots of fun! (Hear that, Mary?) Rafi was the big winner of the night. Thanks to our friends for celebrating the day with us. And thanks to Wells Branch MUD for providing another great day of free holiday festivities!