Let Freedom Ring

The 4th of July is always fun....one of my favorite holidays right after my birthday and Christmas. BD spent 3 years fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to ensure this country stayed free.   The last few years we didn't see fireworks in person...we either skipped them completely or watched them on TV.. In fact this was the first year 2 of my kids had seen fireworks in person.   BD was either deployed or I had just had a baby or I wasn't up to taking 2 kids by myself to a fireworks show.  In any case it's always a fun day.

This year we had a lazy morning then loaded up and drove to a town an hour away to meet up with our out of town guests.  We hit up the mall (one of my favorite places)  and hit up Build A Bear and the kids each got to design an animal. It was my first time going there and it was so fun!  The kids have a few Build A Bears from their Great Oma, but this was the first they got to design themselves.   The workers there take their jobs very seriously.  The girls LOVED it.  They had such a blast!!!

lil man was content to just sit and hang out in his rockin mall stroller.   Explain how I managed to bring everything but the kitchen sink and forget our awesome stroller at home :-(

Of course you cannot go to the mall without a trip to the Coach store and Cinnabon.  Then we then headed over to eat at On the Border.  YUM! By far one of my favorite places to eat!!  Just delicious.  Had it not been the 4th of July and 90 degrees out side I would have gotten my normal Chicken Tortilla soup but I figured I ought to get something grilled so BD and I shared fajitas. 

The fireworks were incredible. We sat and relaxed and listened to a jazz concert they had playing and watched the ducks swim by in the lake.  We were super close to where they were setting off the fireworks. It was awesome!! So fun!  We were so close the Police came and warned us that we were in the fall out zone and to be cautious. 

Wes was content to just sit and eat graham crackers all night.

The fireworks show was amazing and so beautiful! Every time they exploded you could feel the BOOM in your chest.   It was absolutely magical.   I will never be able to see fireworks any other way than sitting by a lake  watching the reflection of the fireworks dance across the water.   Next year I think we will just get a hotel room in the town because it took forever to get through traffic and get home. 

It was absolutely beautiful and just what I needed to remind me how AMAZING this country is!