Happy 4th of July!

We had a really fun family night on July 3rd at our church and I was brave and went even though the car thermometer read 101* when we arrived at 7pm! The kids and I do not do heat well, but we all had a lot of fun. Mostly it was a fun time of fellowship. I think the funnest part for me was watching how excited the kids were. They LOVE going to church any opportunity and for any reason they get! In the above picture J is on the L and A on the right. Lately A has taken to looking questioningly into the camera whenever I want to take her picture.
There was lots for the kids to do...skateboarding, playing on the playground, water balloon Volleyball and eating ice cream. D didn't sit still long enough to get any decent pics of him, but here is A and J, playing at the sand table in the playground.

This picture isn't the greatest but I love the expression on A's face as she is playing with one of the "big boys"!

D, ever conscious of every morsel of food he eats, when it happens and when the next morsel will be arriving, was most worried about getting his promised ice cream! Dreyers Ice Cream graciously donated these serving sized containers of ice cream to the church for the event, L to R: A, J, DThis is a bad picture on purpose. We did take a lot of pics, but I don't want to post people pics without permission, but I thought this blurry one would be okay...it shows you how they played water balloon Volleyball, by lobbing water balloons (and hopefully catching them) with a towel!

Some of the guys at church did some fireworks for everyone to enjoy!

A, sleeping with her eyes open, enjoyed watching from the comfort of Daddy's lap! D behind her.

But, J, has always marched to the beat of her own drum and loves music. Here she is, how can she still be awake at 9:40Pm? She was dancing/marching around in circles to the beat of the Sousa marches and other Patriotic music playing in the background. The girls were excited. This is the first time that they can remember seeing fireworks and kept shouting, "Take a picture Mommy!" :o)

When the church fireworks were all done, we could just barely see through the trees, a part of the city's fireworks. The pictures aren't great, but it was fun to see.
This was taken hand held over a long period, so looks kind of funky.
After 10 PM...they finally gave out on the way home! This is A.
And this is J...and they are still sleeping at 8:45 AM! LOL We aren't going anywhere today but will bbq burgers. We have lots of work to do to get ready for our birthday trip with Aunt Shelley who is arriving TOMORROW!!!!!!! Yeah! Guaranteed lots of pics when we come back from Yosemite. I can't wait to really give my new camera a good run there. Although I was disappointed to see on the website that the waterfalls are near the drying out stage. When we were there two years ago they had record rainfall, flooding in the spring etc and the waterfalls were at the highest level in 25 years...spectacular! Still Yosemite is so beautiful, it's even worth braving all the other tourists there. We are renting a cabin about 20 miles outside the Arch Rock Entrance and it has a little kitchen which will save on food. Friday we will go into the Yosemite Valley because on the weekend it will be nuts. And then on Saturday we will go over the Tioga Pass, which is on the northern side and less people. It's really beautiful. If there is time we hope to get as far as Mono Lake, but that's a big IF, because we will take up a lot of time just taking pics! LOL Three photographers and three poor little kids waiting while Mom, Dad and Aunt Shelley take pics. But we know a few fun places to stop along the way and get your feet wet and stretch your legs. They like adventures too, so I think it will be okay. Sunday before going home, we will celebrate Shelley's birthday by going to Glacier Point. We have never been there before and it is supposed to have gorgeous views of Half Dome and looks over the valley. Please pray for traveling mercies for us!

And when I get back...MS 3 Clue #2 will be up! Yeah!