July 4th - Round Two!

After lunch with my family, we headed over to the Zumwalt's! They had the slip and slide set up for the kids. This was Gabe's first time to try it and he loved it! He tried over and over again until he slid all the way to the end. Cousin Jackson gave him some great tips! He would say, not yet Gabe, not yet, now!!! Gabe would drop to his stomach when he yelled it! It was so cute!

Drew checking it out...

The slip and side expert, Jackson :)

I love this picture of Gabe. So cute!

Alan and Grayson

Here is Gabe after the slip and slide.

Emma and mommy

Danny bought two of these planes on woot.com. One for him and one for Jeff. He was so excited to see it fly. He set it up and charged it for about three hours. Here is the plane before it's fateful flight ;)

Amy coordinated a shrimp boil for the party! I have always wanted to go to one. So I was so excited! We all brought shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage. She boiled them all with seasoning and then dumped it all out on a table outside. It was so good and very fun!

Nana
After dinner, the craziness began! Jeff and all of the guys went to buy fireworks earlier that day. They are legal where the Zumwalt's live. And we had quite a show! They bought a lot of little stuff the kids could do. Gabe loved every minute of it. But Emma stuck pretty close to my side. She was happy just watching ;)


We always have to walk across the street to see Emma's favorite horse, Molly :)

Yes, that is Jeff and my brother out there! They had a roman candle war. Crazy boys!

And Shanille jumped in! I think this shot got her in the arm!

Jeff and Linda


This is the plane after Danny tried flying it. When it took off, we all said, "Wow!" And that quickly changed to OOOOhhhhhh" as we watched it crash to the ground. He taped it up and tried all night to make it fly!

They then decided to attach a sparkler to it!

I don't think it was in the air long enough for the sparks to really get going ;)

Papa and his gun. Every Fourth of July and New Year's Eve, Papa shoots this gun. It belonged to Jeff's grandad. It was first used in The Indian Wars. So, it is quite a collector's item now.

The guys put on quite a fireworks show! I especially loved Sergio's special touch! He loaded one firework upside down. So, it exploded on the ground. Lot of running going on! But it was a great show and a fun July 4th with family and friends!

July 4th - Round One!

We had such a fun July 4th this year! Very busy, but very fun!!!! We headed over to my parents that morning for lunch and swimming! My mom always puts so much thought into our family get togethers! And they are always so special!

Kaitlyn and Emma in their red, white and blue...

Gabe and Noah

The Martins

Us... Smile, Gabe!

My parents and the kids. Gabe has his "claw" in all of these pictures! I don't think he has put this down since he got it. And he thinks it is so funny to pinch mommy's backside (I think that is the nicest way to put it) with it when she is not looking! This toy might accidently get lost pretty soon :)

Sergio, Jennifer, Beverly, Jim and Tiffany - The Smith Family

Uncle Sergio and the kids... We are so happy to have Uncle Sergio back in town! The kids are just in love with him!
My family

My crazy family! This was Jen's idea! And she told me not to put in on my blog. But it is so cute! My sister does the best monkey impersonation you will ever see! One of her many talents!

After swimming, we had a wonderful lunch. Jeff and I were supposed to bring homemade ice cream. So, we wanted to make something that tasted like sweet cream and strawberries from Marble Slab. And we succeeded! It was sooooo good! You can click here for the recipe. We made the Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and added strawberries.

During our lunch, my mom set up a cute table just for the girls. And they felt so special! They were just talking up a storm. We had a good time eavesdropping! Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful 4th!