4th of July Fun!

Aww - 4th of July! I've never really been a fan of this particular holiday. Let's face it - if you're not a heat lover, 4th of July in AZ is just not that fun. It's hot - too hot to be outside. If there is a BBQ - everyone is inside in the A/C and some poor male soul is outside cooking burgers over a scorching flame! Then, most of the time no one wants to go look at fireworks because - it's HOT - and you have to endure the millions of cars and people in the process! NOT FUN - at least to me.
But since we moved to Oregon, I have a new found love of this holiday. First of all, summers in Oregon are the best - it's green, relatively cool and, at least where we live, relatively uncrowded. This year, Justin's girls - Brintley and Jaydin - were here visiting their daddy so we all went to the beach for the day. We had SUCH FUN!! Ryleigh was so happy to have girls to play with. We bought skim boards at the local beach surf shop, so the boys had fun with those. I had fun relaxing in the sun, reading and taking pictures of my sweet family.
The kids - well Ryleigh, Ethan and Brintley - loved getting buried in the sand! It was so funny when the tide started to come in and weaved it's way around Ry and Ethan! They laughed so hard!
After a day in the sun and sand, there's not much better than tailgating a delicious meal, which is exactly what we did. Bratz, vegies, potato and macaroni salad - YUM! Then, I introduced my grandbabies to wonderful world of s'mores. YUMMY - I love s'mores! Gooey marshmallow goodness, melty chocolate - grahams, what's not to love???



After the sun went down - about 9:30pm this time of year - the fireworks started. We had found a primo spot on the bay, right in the middle of a bunch of happy people with fireworks of their own to set off. We had quite a bit of fireworks left from last year, so the kids and the men had a GREAT time being pyromaniacs - led by the biggest pyro of them all - Jeff. My babies - left to right - Ethan, Spencer, Brintley, Jaydin and Ryleigh - loved the glow of the lights and explosions in the sky. It was great to have them all with me. Being a grandma is the best! Needless to say - we had a great holiday.