4th of July

On the fourth of July, Brennan was on a plane headed back to Singapore. He left Iowa a few days earlier than that to be at his brother's wedding in Utah. We missed having him around, but still enjoyed a nice day of all things American. :)

The kids had matching American flag shirts and I wanted to get a good picture of them, which is nearly impossible. We tried in front of the flag on my parents' porch.

We tried sitting so Declan couldn't run away as quickly.

Then we tried to the porch swing AND graham crackers.

Then we tried pushing them in the swing. That was the real winner, although I'm no photographer so really only one shot was not too blurry. Getting two kids to even look at the camera at the same time seems to be an impossible task. I don't know how anybody does it with more.

Tatum was excited about something:

Horrible quality but it captures her weirdness perfectly. :)

After the photo session we played tennis. Caden was nice enough to be my partner in Brennan's absence but we just couldn't manage to beat mom and dad. You better keep playing Caden, we'll play indoors when we get back and whoop them. :)

The Eskelsens invited us over for a little slip and side fun later. They had just mowed their lawn so it was a bit of a grassy experience but everyone still had fun.

I'm thankful for these older cousins that will play with my kids.

Tatum wasn't so sure about it at first so she walked down it first, then rode down on Caden's back.

Then she let Papa and Crystal pull her down.

Even Papa got in on it. :)

Finally she did it on her own!

Declan was not a fan. So he sat with Grandma being grumpy.

We had a yummy BBQ that night and headed to some fireworks in a nearby town. We did a few sparklers while we waited for the show to start.

Caden and Declan hanging out.

Two at once!

I took a lot of pictures on our summer vacation but this might be the only one of me and my kids.

"Woah!" Declan loved the fireworks and wasn't bothered by the sound at all.

It was fun to be back in America for the fourth and we had a great day with, yet again, perfect weather. I was chilly watching the fireworks and wished I had brought a jacket!