Independence Day

We had a great 4th of July this year and I am so glad both boys were old enough to really have fun with it. This time last year Max was barely walking so it was cut short and he was a little grumpy for most of it.

First we started off going to a pancake breakfast our ward puts on for the community which was followed by a kids parade and fun activities.

We had to hit up the park because slides are way too fun to pass up.
For the parade Levi and I decorated our wagon the day before with banners, and tons of flags. It was pretty easy to do and I think it turned out great. I also made up some captain america shirts for both boys, party for the 4th, partly because they're into superheros. Win win.

They both did great walking the parade route, Levi mostly walked with me while he followed some of the kids throwing candy out to the crowds.
After bouncing in bouncy houses, going on slides, throwing balls at the dunk tanks we took a hot dog break while Max showed off his balloon sword and ray gun.
He took no prisoners. And even called in for backup. Eventually a truce was made.
Mostly so Levi could vacuum up his hot dog.
After that we all went home for a much needed nap. It was heavenly. I personally think everyone should have a nap everyday.

Jason fired up the grill for burgers and other tasty food. While we waited for it to get dark, we pulled out the water balloons which took forever to fill but was TOTALLY worth it when I heard the giggles whenever one exploded on the ground. They loved it.
To start the night we pulled out the pop-its, which we had been playing around with pretty much the entire week before. They LOVED them, though it took some practice to get them to throw hard enough to pop.
Max had the most hilarious method to pop them. Basically it involved him doing a sort of yoga warrior pose, making a tough guy face and throwing it with all his might. It was so fun to watch. We first lit off some of the really fun fireworks, for Levi it was one shaped like a motorcycle, Max it was a race car and I had some sort of dragon. This one they were WAY too close and it did what we weren't expecting by popping like crazy. We just thought it would zoom off. Terrified Levi who ran and pretty much stayed at a good distance from them for the rest of the night.
After that we moved on to sparklers. Levi was extremely skeptical (don't worry, we got some shoes on him) and was pretty much nervous the entire time. He only did one and refused to do any more after that.

Max on the other hand had zero fear and wanted to hold the sparkler up close to the top. Try as we might to get him to hold it at the bottom, he wouldn't budge. So we put away all the sparklers and just had him wave his flag around which he basically did the rest of the night. Finally it was dark enough to do our 'big fireworks' and we spread some blankets out while Levi directed dad which ones to do when. Not long after our neighbors came out and joined us and holy cow did they put on a show! I'm pretty sure none of those were legal, but they sure were cool!