4th Of July Celebrations

We had a very fun and relaxing 4th. It was really nice to not worry about school, just be a family, and relax. We didn't really do much, either, which was the nicest of it all! That morning we woke up and went to the park to watch the parade. There were a lot of fun things to see and Michael loved it. There were, of course, fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. But what really topped it off for Michael were seeing the tractors and tanks!!!! (He's such a boy!!) I forgot to bring my camera, but we had a good time. Then we came home and put him to bed for his nap. After he woke up we made 7 Layer Bars. They are soooo yummy and were very easy to make. It was a great activity for Michael to help me with, too! Here are some pictures of that...

(I'm guessing his hands were getting tired? His foot was much easier)
Pounding the graham crackers for the crust. We did 3 cups of crumpled (or stomped on or hammered) graham crackers and 2 cubes of butter for the crust.
Pressing the crackers onto the 9x13 pan
We messed up on this part, intentionally. The recipe called for half a bag of choc. chips and half a bag of butterscotch, but as we were pouring them on Nathan convinced me to just use all of each bag. I thought, sure, no problem!! They turned out fine, but are just WAY TOO SWEET!!!! Next time, we will be following the recipe!! Michael enjoyed this part the most!!! It's hard to see in this picture, but he was determined to eat each chip!

Next we put about 4 ounces of coconut on top, a bag of nuts, and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Then put them in the oven for 25 minutes at 350. Very yummy!!!

(Waiting for the bars to be ready)

The finished product. Have I mentioned how yummy they were??

After that was made we started cooking for dinner. Nathan got the bar-b-que out and he made some hamburgers and ribs (yum!) and I made some potato salad. Michael was no longer interested in helping me. Now he was just interested in trying some raw vegetables!!! Gross, I know, but after him whining to me for a few minutes and saying "ite, ite!!! I figured, why not? So I gave him some raw potato....he ate it for a few minutes, then ran over to the trash can and spit it all out!!!! Then he looked at me and said, "Yucky!!!" All I had to say was "told you so!" But he obviously didn't mind it too much, because a few minutes later I turned around to him taking another bite out of a different raw potato...Michael!!!! Then a few minutes later he helped me dehusk a cob of corn and then walked away content on eating it! I'm thinking he was hungry!!!

Eventually we were able to eat and the Floyds came over and we had a nice dinner outside on a picnic table.

A few hours after dinner we were invited to go outside and play a fun game called Ladder Ball. This is such a fun game!!!! You can sort of see how to play from the pictures, and it's a bit difficult to explain, but there are two balls attatched with a string and you fling the balls onto the ladder in front of you and try to get them onto the rows. The bottom row is worth 1 point, the middle is worth 3, and the top is worth 2. The goal is to get EXACTLY 21. Like I said, it's very fun.


After a round of that (and losing HORRIBLY 5 to 21) we went to the nature park to watch the fireworks. The fire works were okay, nothing spectacular, but Michael loved them!! He was clapping and saying something that we interpreted as Whoa!! It was very fun watching him.
This picture really makes me laugh!!! Nathan...well, I don't know exactly what he was thinking, but I don't think he was impressed!!! Michael was holding his hands over his ears for the few minutes of the show.

When we got home, Michael wanted to see more fireworks, so we were searching the sky for more.

So there's our 4th of July celebrations!!! Like I said, it was a very fun day with a time spent together as a family enjoying eachothers company.