Fourth of July

What can I say about our 4th of July this year? First, the weather was AWESOME! The day started out cloudy and rainy which is always very exciting in the desert. The sun came out here and there yet the temps stayed relatively low. I think our high was only about 90, which is much lower than it has been for many weeks. We spent a good bit of time outside exclaiming our astonishment that it was cooler here in Arizona than back in Wisconsin. Actually, it felt a lot like Wisconsin to us with the unusually high humidity.

We had a relaxing day. Swam in the morning and prepared some food for our feast later in the day. Grandma Joddy and Grandpa Steve drove up and spent the evening with us. Grandma brought watermelon, coleslaw, and some very good potato salad. (Roz you missed out!)

I made a few festive foods. Red, white, and blue strawberries...

These were super easy. Just wash and dry the strawberries then dip them in white almond bark and blue sprinkles. The boys loved them! (Thank you Pinterest!)

Red, white, and blue drinks...

Again super easy. First, you have to use a clear glass filled with lots of ice. Then the trick is pouring the most sugary liquid first. In this case, Sobe Pina Colada for the white, Gatorade Fruit Punch for the red, and G2 Blueberry Pomegranate for the blue. And you have to pour slowly! (Thank you again Pinterest!)

Jerry did the grilling honors. We made our new favorite Bacon Cheddar Burgers and some hot dogs. Unfortunately, the grill got a little hot with a double batch of greasy burgers and we had a small flare up. I wondered why Grandpa Steve was asking if we had a fire extinguisher until I looked out the window and saw the flames. Jerry is an excellent grill master so it is quite unusual to see four foot flames when he's manning the grill. Jerry says he doesn't have any hair left on his arms but he managed to save the burgers. They were a little blacker than normal but still edible. In the end it was a good thing we didn't need to spray the fire out with an extinguisher because we don't have one. We weren't allowed to pack them when we moved and we never got around to replacing them. Guess we better add that to the "to do" list.

For dessert I made a cake. It was white cake mix with my yummy homemade frosting.

But, surprise, the white cake mix wasn't white after I was through with it!

After dessert we went out and did a few pop-its and smoke bombs before the grandparents left. Then we sat around and waited. We didn't buy any of our own fireworks this year, even though they are finally legal in AZ, because they are so expensive. We figured we'd be able to see the big fireworks just a few miles to our east. While we waited the boys jumped in for a quick swim...

... and did a few sparklers...

... and got in our jammies...

... and sat with Sam.

Right at 9pm the fireworks started. It is nice that it gets dark here so much earlier. In Wisconsin it seems it's never dark enough for fireworks until after 10pm. We could (mostly) see the big fireworks show but they were a bit far away. Unfortunately, we could just barely hear the booms. Next year we might have to drive and get a bit closer. Although it was nice to just march everyone right into bed when they were over and not have to worry about driving home.

And don't worry, we did talk a bit about why we celebrate the 4th of July. In fact, Justus impressed us all when he knew Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence!