Happy 4th of July, America!

Happy belated 4th! We stayed home this year and had the best time. The excitement and energy all around us was so fun, especially with Kyle soaking up all the excitement and getting to participate in it with us!

First of all, this is a beach city and beach cities know how to celebrate anything, but especially the 4th! Secondly, fireworks (ANY kind) are legal. Put those two things together and you've got one exciting day! We started off riding our bikes through the neighborhood saying hi to friends. We stopped at Elsie's house for a little "Marco Polo" box style. Rudy was "it." Then, we ran into a few other neighbors that we didn't know but just invited us in. (That's the way beach people party!) We got to hang out and listen to a live reggae band at one home (Kyle loved it!) and bounce in a huge bounce house thingy at another home (another huge hit). We loved watching everyone riding around on their bikes, talking to strangers and being very neighborly. It was a fun vibe. 

Then, back to our house for some cupcake and American birthday cake baking with our friends Carolyn and Holden. The boys did it all with minimal help!  

While the parents, along with every other tenant in the complex, were working the bbq, Holden and Kyle drove around on their firetrucks pretending to save us from all the firework "disasters." They had the time of their lives.

At dusk we set up camp on our street to watch everybody light their fireworks. Because anything goes where fireworks are concerned, we had a great show with huge, stadium-style fireworks for close to 3  hours! It was insane! Kyle loved every second of it and wasn't scared a bit. Our street and almost every other street in the city goes NUTS, so we had quite a view all across the sky!

Kyle and Holden singing "Happy Birthday" to America and blowing our their candles!

Happy Independence Day, America!