4th of July Fun, Friends, and Festivities

Our town has a week long festival every year ending on Sunday with a parade and fireworks.

We invited the Lee family to join us for the festivities.

Mel marched in the parade with the municipal band,

but I didn't get any pictures of her or any good ones of the parade.

After the parade, we all went back to our house to cool off.

I think Isaac was the first one to get wet. He didn't even want to wait for the water fight.

Jason helped him out some with the hose.

Kaleb is definitely a water lover. He is trying to get a drink from the spray in this pic.

The little guy broke his arm just last week,

and Mrs. Lee wrapped his cast in Walmart bags so he could join in the fun.

We played a game called "Water Laser Tag".

Each person had an alka seltzer table on a string around their neck,

and everyone else tried to squirt it.

When your tablet disolved, you were out of the game.

Mom and Mr. Lee were the last two in the game.

I think I know why...Mr. Lee is using more than just a spray bottle on his opponents.
Gabrielle had better watch out!
Jordan was hard to catch because he is such a fast runner. Ah...more strategy from Mr. Lee...shoot them while they re-load!
The next game we played was a relay. It was pretty simple--run down, dump out your water, switch places, and just keep repeating those steps until all the bottles were empty.

Kaleb didn't play that game, but he was ready for his turn.

We dumped water on him later.
Jason is repaying Christian for his attack with a water balloon.

Somehow I think Christian got the bad end of the bargain.
Next we tried to see how high we could jump. Mom kept raising the hose higher and higher.

Christian Jason
Dad
We told Mrs. Lee she had to get in on it even if she was wearing a skirt.

Can she do it? Nice pose!
The two guys The two girls being Super Girl! I think Jordan was able to clear five feet!
We all had to sign Kaleb's cast.

Once we were cooled off, we played bean bags.

After supper we headed over to the ball diamond to hit some softballs.

This is a girls' slo-pitch diamond, but Jason likes going there and hitting it over the fence.
Somehow it's more satisfying than just hitting it far on a different field!

I played 3rd base and pitcher in the park district games for 5 years,

and I always enjoy a chance to get back on the field.
While we hit a few balls, the little kids played at the park.


Isaac and Melody were secret agents making sure the area was secure for the rest of us.
This diligent scout it determined to do his job right!

We ended our day of fun at the town fireworks.

We sat with two other families from church and had one big group!

Melody and adorable little Hiram
Kaleb, Isaac, and Joy took the front row and the popcorn!

We had a blast that day!