Independence Day Fun

We were woken up at 5:20am on the 4th and not because of fireworks...the twins must've been super excited for Independence Day because they were rarin' to go! The babes were getting super antsy so we needed to get out and do something, but it was still so early. Since the Venturino girls are also early risers we decided to bring them some of the patriotic Jello that Tenley made to brighten their day since they were recovering from fevers. On the way home, Tenley picked out some fireworks with Daddy:

We even brought Pearl on our outing and she enjoyed watching the rain roll in:

There was nothing we could do to keep the twins up any longer. They were out cold by 9:30am; which is absolutely unheard of. What's even crazier is that they slept past 1pm:

While the twins napped and Tenley relaxed, I finished the Jello deserts and made pasta salad for the 4th of July BBQ at Pat and Harris' house (Mason's parents):

Once everyone was up, we got ready to leave for the BBQ. The kids looked so cute and festive so Ed busted out the tripod he bought me for my birthday and we tried it out for the first time:

When we arrived at Pat and Harris' Isla was cruising around on her jet ski and Tenley quickly joined her. Isla has been in swim classes for 2 weeks and Tenley for 1 week, but they were still a little weary of the water so they took turns on the jet ski while the twins floated in their duo pool float. We haven't been to a private pool where we could just stand in the water and sip on a drink in forever! Everyone was having so much fun:

I went inside for a few minutes and came out to see Tenley swimming to the other side of the pool with Sandi. She was extremely scared of being in the water by herself and getting water on her face so I was completely shocked. Sandi got her to swim around by herself (with her puddle jumper on) and even blow bubbles for the first time! 10 minutes later that crazy girl was asking to jump in! After 4 days of 30 minute swim lessons and 10 minutes with Sandi she transformed into a little fishie:

After seeing Tenley jump in Isla started to test out jumping in, too! Seeing them do so well made me so proud, but SO sad. I said to Linds, "I'm so happy the girls can almost swim, but that means they're getting so old!" I just can't believe how big these girls are getting:

(While Linds and I watched our husbands swim with the girls I also said to her, "we really have the best husbands!" They're truly such good fathers and they're like the same person so it's a bonus for us!)

Since we had some extra hands Ed and I even got to work on our cannon balls; which Tenley thought was so silly:

After swimming like fishies for awhile, Tenley hopped on the jet ski and was blasting Daddy and Wessie in the face with the squirter, then it was Wes' turn to give the jet ski a try:

(Look at that water getting Ed right in the face!)

Sweet Sailor Rose napped while all of us continued to swim:

Everyone, except Tenley, was worn out from swimming all afternoon. She refused to get out of the pool and stayed in all by herself while we all sat around watching her swim while Mason grilled. Little Miss would jump off the steps onto the kick board, blow bubbles, swim from one end to the other and even jump in:

Finally, we all took a break to eat:

Once we got our BBQ fix, we sat back and watched the guys (and kids) light fireworks. Seeing the awe and excitement in their faces was amazing:

We left Pat's after we ran out of fireworks and Tenley was not happy about it. She begged and begged to stay at Pat's because it's "her favorite house!" and she really wanted to spend the night! I swear she would've slept in the pool, too.

We went home to get cleaned up before heading back out to watch the fireworks at the park. There was so much traffic that we ended up watching the fireworks at McCullough Vista Park and the kids were so exhausted that they were being so silly. They were running around and trying to eat their glow sticks:

I tried taking a picture of the pretty fireworks, but Tenley wanted to take a picture of "me family" instead:

(I'll always keep this picture because she said, "let me take you guys' picture, Mommy and Daddy.")

Then the weirdo said, "ok, now that a picture of me looking like disgust":

As we walked to the car I said to Ed, "today was one of those days that was just sooo good!" We had the best time celebrating the 4th of July with the Rices and their families. We're so grateful that Pat & Harris let us join them for their Independence Day fun because we had the best time. The kids had such a fun day and that's truly all we could ever hope for!

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!