Independence Day Fun!!

I love the 4th of July.  Seriously.  It's up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving as far as my favorite holidays go.  I'm proud to be an American.  I love this country and am so happy to live in this great land!  Every year as I sit with my family and watch the annual display of fireworks, I have tears come to my eyes.  I'm so thankful that I am able to be with my family when so many other families are not as fortunate.  And, I'm so thankful for all the members of our military who have fought for our freedom ... so that I may sit there with my family every year on the 4th of July and enjoy good food, good company and good fireworks!

We started our 4th of like every other year ... heading out to Leesburg for the 4th of July parade.  This year Pap was actually in the parade, though, driving the ladder truck, so that was extra special.  I'm not sure Henry has ever seen him in a parade before, and Jacob's only seen him be in a few, I believe.

After the parade, we had lunch with my parents, and then Jacob went with them to swim, while we brought Henry home for a quick nap.  After his nap, we quickly got ready and then off we went again to meet up with my parents and Jacob for some fun at Great Meadow.

Great Meadow was awesome, and as long as have the hook-up we had this year (VIP all the way, baby!), we'll definitely be going back in years to come.  We had the best seats in the house for everything.  We had some awesome food catered by Chick Fil A.  There was a rocket launch that was pretty cool (I'd never seen one before), and we watched a couple skydivers while our National Anthem was being sung.  We even got to see a polo match (another thing I had never seen before!).  Jacob had some fun in the bounce house, and he was able to "blow" the biggest bubble he's ever "blown"!

Our weather had been being sketchy all week, and the 4th was no exception.  When we first got to Great Meadow, it almost immediately began storming, so we waited that one out in the car.  Then toward the end of the evening, there was round two headed in, so the fireworks started a bit early, so we could all be on our way before the storm hit.  And, thank goodness they did because the second part of the storm was way worse than the first!  It stormed our whole way home, but we made it home safe and sound, and all had an amazing day!!  I'm sad we have to wait a whole year to do it all again!