bombs MISSING in air...

We knew when we woke up on the 4th of July, that this year would be different from nearly any year we have celebrated our nation's birthday since we can remember. It wouldn't be bigger and better or more memorable in a good way, however, instead it would be quieter due to a "burn ban" here in Oklahoma. We were very disappointed to find out a couple of days before the 4th of July that our city would NOT be lifting the burn ban before the 4th and so it would be illegal to shoot fireworks over the weekend. BIG bummer. Not only would it be illegal but you would be subject to a $500 fine or even jail time if you were caught shooting fireworks! Yikes! Now, remember, Mustang isn't a normal town...we're used to shooting fireworks for a full week or two before the 4th and not having to hide it at all! We shoot them in our front yards, in our back yards, in the streets in front of our homes and in parking lots and parks across the city! It's pure madness around here on the weekend of the 4th!! But I'm not complaining!! It's actually alot of fun!! This 4th, however, it was super quiet all around the city. You would only hear a few pops in the distance every few hours but for the most part all Mustang citizens complied with the burn ban. So...instead of fireworks...we did ALOT of swimming! We invited Seth and Gray over to play and swim and we had alot of fun!

 

 Sweet brothers!!

His mom is probably happy about it...but Gray is kind of scared of the trampoline! He always asks to go in and then just sits there. I was kind of happy about it too...the last thing I would want is for him to get hurt at my house!

Gray was the first one to change out of his swim suit and come inside! The last time Gray was admitted in the hospital (which was only a week ago) and I visited him, Gray begged and pleaded with me to let him come over and play with the pirate ship in my boys' room! I wanted to run home, pack up the ship and bring it straight to the hospital but I couldn't do that...so I was more then happy to let him play with it today!!

Late in the afternoon, it began to get cloudy and soon it was raining! It wasn't raining hard (and unfortunately, not enough to allow us to shoot fireworks...) but it was sprinkling and so we let the kids play outside in the rain! They got out all of the umbrellas and jumped in the trampoline, played on the swing set and even played a backyard game of baseball!! What's better then the 4th of July and playing in the rain!?!? (OK...maybe shooting off fireworks would be better but we'll take what we can get! Ha!)

Elia was so excited to play in the rain!! She held her umbrella as she jumped in the trampoline and yelled at the top of her lungs a variety of hoops and hollars! She just kept screaming "WooHoo!! Whoop!! WooHoo!!"

All the while...Brandon was grilling our dinner in the rain...

After Seth and Gray went home, we had an AWESOME 4th of July dinner!! Mmmmmm!! We had grilled steaks, had mom's homemade pasta salad and potato salad, grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob!!

Then for dessert my mom had made a yummy layered dessert of red and yellow jell-o, vanilla pudding, pound cake, fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries!! Oh my!! All in the red, white and blue theme, of course!! It was so yummy!!

After dinner and dessert, we all got back into the pool for more swim time before roasting s'mores over the fire. While swimming, Elia got out of the pool, walked over to the deck and made herself quite comfortable in the metal tub of soda cans and melted ice that we had used to keep our sodas cold this afternoon!! Ha!! She is way too funny!! Oh! And Brandon announced that he WOULD NOT be drinking any of the leftover Pepsi's!! Ha!!

Next up...S'MORES!!!! We all love s'mores but we had to eventually cut the kids off because they were roasting marshmallows faster then we could eat them!! They were delicious, though!!

Although, it wasn't nearly as fun as popping our own fireworks we decided to watch the NYC fireworks display on TV! It was beautiful and, as a bonus, we got to hear some awesome live background music that the kids could dance to! And, boy, did they put on a show, let me tell ya!!

Well, the 4th of July may not have been quite what it was last year with the entire town of Mustang bursting into a barage of fireworks and smoke and whooping Americans in the streets...but it was still fun! We had time with family and yummy food! While we'll definitely be looking forward to our regular LOUD 4th of July next year we still appreciated the holiday this year and still remember why we have the 4th of July in the first place. Thank you to all of our country's men and women in uniform and their families who have sacrificed their lives, their time and their energy so that we can live free and enjoy our lives here in America! Fireworks or not, we live in the greatest country in the world and we won't soon forget it...