4th of July FUN

On Saturday, we held our annual 4th of July Bash with our neighbors, Brian & Leslie.  Last year, we had a blast & aimed to invite more people over & have even more fun than last year!!

It ended up being a total success.  There were around 40-45 people that showed up, and we had more than enough food!  We had told everyone that we'd have all of our grills fired up (four of them, to be exact), so to bring their own meat & we'd provide the sides, desserts, etc.  I had made side dishes all day long -- Asian coleslaw, bowtie pasta salad, spinach salad with feta cheese & strawberries, and then also a delicious "Fat Man" cake for dessert.  We had the party in Brian & Leslie's front yard & spilled over into Rebecca & Bryan's yard & driveway as well.  

We had our big inflatable water slide blown up for the kids along with a kiddie pool, sand & water table & slip-n-slide.  They definitely kept busy!!  Also, one of Emma's old day care friends brought a 4th of July pinata to bust, so that just added to the festivities of the night!

Once it turned dusk, we started setting off our own fireworks.  Brian & Leslie had raided the fireworks stand earlier in the day & brought back two big bags of fireworks for the kids to enjoy.  They all enjoyed setting them off themselves before the big show started...

Our houses are in the PERFECT location for a DOUBLE fireworks show on the 4th.  We are about 1 mile from both the Dell Diamond (baseball park) fireworks show, along with the City of Round Rock fireworks show in Old Settlers Park, just behind our house.  Everyone pulled up a chair & enjoyed the show from B&L's front yard!!

This next picture is my favorite one of the night -- Austin & Emma standing on the sidewalk watching the fireworks show together.  ADORABLE!  (Someone said that if they do get married in the future, this has to be on their wedding invitations & I must agree!  Too cute!!)

After the big shows were over, we kept on with our own fireworks.  Leslie pulled out the sparklers & Austin had a blast with them...and every other firework that we helped him set off as well!!

It was a late night... We didn't get back across the street to our house until around 11:30 pm, and we all quickly went straight to bed.  Austin had taken a nap earlier in the day (which NEVER happens), so he was ready to stay up all night long...until we rained on the parade & got tired ourselves.  (He did, however, sneak in this sucker around 11:15 that night, so I was afraid he'd be on a sugar rush for hours...but he quickly fell asleep once we got him to bed.)

We had a great time with our great friends here in Texas, and are already looking forward to & making plans for the "block bash" next year!!  It's gotta be bigger & better than '09!!