4th of July!

WARNING!!! Many, many pictures to follow! They are so fun-filled, though, we know you won't mind looking at them all! (o: I will put captions above each photo to explain what you are seeing. We went over to Travis's parents house (as usual) (o: and had a lovely bbq of hamburgers and hot dogs. We had a few fireworks, and just really enjoyed the day and each others company.
The weather was very hot for Seattle. One of the nicest 4th of July's we have had in a very long time. It got close to 90. Most people in the summer would say no big deal, but we Seattle folks just don't get along with heat. We are mild weather people. So, until the shade crept across the yard, we had to find ways to keep cool. The best way? Sprinklers!!!!Spencer was really bothered by the heat. More than his brothers. He preferred to just sit in the shade and eat lemonade Popsicles.

After a while, Spencer really didn't feel well. He had taken some decongestant earlier in the day, so we think that the medicine mixed with the heat made for a not so great time. He took a quick nap on the couch and quickly recovered though.
After the sprinklers, and while Spencer took a rest, we turned on Steve Martin's "Pink Panther" movie. This is one of the boys favorites and one of the very few non-educational films we let the boys watch. It was made for families and we have to say there are some pretty funny things and sayings that happen that really make the boys laugh. Here is Connor getting ready to watch the movie. His shirt was in the dryer. Notice his favorite blankey in the whole universe is with him. That thing was puffing dirt like Pigpen by the time we left.

Of course, as soon as a tiny bit of shade hit the yard, Travis was out in it doing what he loves best.
The boys love smoke balls because they aren't loud, they make pretty colored smoke, and Daddy runs with them and they get to chase him. Here are a couple of pictures of the boys chasing Daddy and the smoke. This is a funny one! Travis's parents were sitting innocently watching, when Travis tossed a smoke ball behind them. The smoke pretty much surrounded them.
Joseph took his earphones off for this picture. (see bottom picture for closeup of that)

The Counting Game!!!! The boys are all very sensitive to loud noises-especially Joseph (he gets migraines). We only got fireworks that didn't make a lot of noise. That meant Roman candles, ground blossoms, bees and Morning Glory's. The Roman candles were their favorites. We had 5 ball ones and 10 ball ones. The kids liked the ones with 10 balls. (Travis would insert naughty joke here if he could) We made it into a bit of a counting game for them. Travis would light them and the kids would count each ball as it fired out. They thought that was great fun.FIRE!!!! The next to last bee that we launched whizzed up and into the trees behind us. That darn tree instantly caught fire! It looks green on the outside, but it was dry and dead inside. Travis grabbed the hose (that we had at the ready just in case something like this were to happen) and doused the flames. Shook Joseph up pretty badly. He is so sensitive and felt very badly that the tree got damaged by fire. Travis joked that we had our very own burning bush!
This is just a cute one of Connor watching Whiskers the cat eat his dinner.

And finally, here we are roasting marshmallows to make gooey smores. Note the earphones Joseph is wearing. He didn't like all the noise from the fireworks in the neighborhood, so he got them out and wore them around for a couple of hours. Funny kid!

All in all we had a wonderful time.