4th of July

We spent the day hanging out at the pool where the Bensons were house sitting. Our neighbors, Karl, Shaun, and Konnor, came along with us (we all rode our bikes there), and we joined the Bensons and Chases for swimming, BBQing, and fireworks. The Fullers and Alverts were there for a little while to swim, too.

This was Josh's first time in the pool this summer. The kids loved getting to play with Daddy in the water--he's so much fun (: Griffin was so comfortable and confident in the pool! He floated around with only water wings on and didn't want to be held (: However, he swims with his mouth wide open so kept getting big gulps of water when he wasn't expecting it. So, besides several big coughing fits, he loved it! Ronan did a lot of swimming without water wings. He can stand up in the shallow end and swim underwater to the steps & back. He hasn't quite figured out how to tread water and swim with his head above water, so he stays close to the edge of the pool and the steps.
Griffin warming up after swimming.
Becca, Robin, and I just moments before Robin jumped in the pool to rescue Sadie!
They were floating around on this floaty, then Ronan got out of the pool and as he was trying to get back onto the floaty (in the deep end) he sat right next to her and they both fell into the water. Becca and I saw it happening and I went to the edge thinking they would both pop up on their own. Ronan did, but Sadie kept going under...and before I knew it Robin jumped in and got Sadie. It all happened so fast! Sadie was pretty scared, but thankfully she was just fine.
Once we finally got the kids (including Josh!) out of the pool we ate dinner and let the kids play while we waited for it to get dark.
Ryan, Sadie, Ronan, Griffin, and Ben
Our Family
(Griffin- 19 months, Ronan-so close to being 4)

Ronan and Sadie were inseparable! They love each other and play so well together. (:

Robin and her mom, Betty.

Watching Mark get the fire pit ready to make s'mores!

The Turanskis got there just in time to roast some marshmallows and watch fireworks.
Kelly with Eli and me with Griffin

We managed to get all the kids to sit on a blanket while Josh and Aaron lit some fireworks. Can you believe that Sadie is the only girl out of four families represented here! It's crazy!
Sadie, Tyler, Cohen, Ben, Luke, Ryan, Ronan, Griffin, Eli, and John

Almost all of the fireworks were smoke ones--not too exciting for us adults, but still entertaining for the kids (:

We all left around 9:30 to go to Alton Baker park to watch the big firework display at the Art & the Vineyard Festival. We were hoping to meet up with the Henrys and Williams', but the fireworks started as we were crossing the footbridge to get to the park, so we parked our bikes on the bridge and watched from there. We had a great view! It was the perfect ending to such a fun-filled day!

If you want to see more pictures you can check out the photo album on the left hand column of the blog (: