4th of July

Every year since we bought our house, we have hosted a big, crazy 4th of July party. We usually invite about 30-40 people and we usually end up with about 30 that show up. This year was no exception!

Keith and I were smart this year and we started preparing the week before the party. This meant that Sunday was spent doing just a few small last minute things. The weather cooperated with us again this year.  This is a constant fear of mine because we don't have room for everyone to fit inside.  As you can see from the picture above that's a lot of people to fit in our tiny house.

Four of my little cousins, Keegan, Dylan, Ben and Josh were all at the house.  Add in Jack and Kasey and you get one hell of a water fight, which is exactly what happened.  Dee and Mark brought water balloons, which I let the boys have a blast with.  Cyle had to one-up it by going to buy a bunch of water guns.  By the end of the day, all of my flower misters and every water gun were in use.  The boys even stole my garbage can lids and storage bin lids to use as shields.  They had a ton of fun and I was happy to see them all playing so well together.

The parade was pretty good (as far as parades go).  We are towards the beginning, so the boys all scored massive piles of candy and goodies.  As is par for the course, almost everyone left right after the parade.  There were a few brave souls left (Craig, Oscar, Dee, Mark, Jack, Aimee, Jaramy, Kate, Shannon, Cyle, Holden, Jim, and us).  We quickly started playing Just Dance which is this crazy dancing game Oscar brought.  It was a ton of fun and Dee busted out her cheerleading past and kicked everyone's butt.

At some point in the day, I decided to bust out my birthday gift from my friend, Matt.  Now this gem is a life sized replica of Gonzo.  I have to admit that everyone was a little creeped out in the beginning.  After all, he comes in a satin lined box that kind of resembles a coffin.  He quickly became a hit though.

Once it got dark, we headed over to the fireworks.  Now this is the most boring part of our celebration, but we do it anyway.  After a lackluster display, we headed back to the house to play a little Mario Cart.

All in all, it was another great year.  I can't wait for next year!