A Heffel 4th

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. Although it rained pretty much the entire night and day, we made the best of it! On the 3rd, we took the boys to a Tucson Padres baseball game. It was Owen's first game, and he did really well. Carson had been to a couple of other games, but that was before he played teeball, so he enjoyed watching the game a little more now that he knew what was going on. But what both boys were most excited about happened after the game - a fireworks show! Even with lightning in the distance and sprinkles falling from the sky, the show went on. The boys oooed and ahhed, but then the rain started coming down harder, and we were parked about a mile away, so we decided to watch the rest of the show as we trekked to our car. Good thing we did because about a minute after the grand finale, it started pouring!

The next morning we slept in and missed the parade, but we didn't want to miss the firefighter water fight at the Benson Park. The boys had a blast getting soaked by the water hoses, while I stayed a safe distance away with my camera, chilling in the mist (really, sweating in the sun, secretly wishing I was in the water too!). On our way home, you guessed it, it started pouring again (so I got my wish, hee hee), so what little boy doesn't want to splash in some MORE puddles? :)

After the boys were all dryed off, for the time being, we played a dice game to see who could get their flag colored first, talked about why we celebrate the 4th (Boring, mom! They will appreciate it later, I just know it, haha.) and since Owen is currently obsessed with do-a-dot markers, we do-a-dotted away on some 4th of July pages I printed. Next, I found a little science experiement called Fireworks in a Jar from the I Can Teach My Child blog, so I thought how appropriate to try it out on the 4th. The boys kept wanting to try it again with different colors, so I'd say it was a hit! Ironically, Benson's fireworks were canceled due to lack of rain, but we set off whatever we could find at our local WalMart - mainly fountains, sparklers, smoke bombs - as the boys danced with joy on our sidewalk. I love that they get so excited over the little things!

Overall, it was a really great little 4th spent chilling as a family. (I don't want to forget to mention, that Jason broke out the smoker and we enjoyed some absolutely delicious pork roast - pretty sure I'm going to make that a tradition!) We are so blessed to have each other. :)