4th of July Weekend.

We had a very entertaining and fun filled weekend spending time with family and doing lots of fun stuff. We kicked the weekend off by going to one of the kids friends birthday party. They hired Jungle Terry to perform a live show with some different animals. It took Nolan about half the show to get warmed up to the animals but by the end he was having a blast. It was kind of funny because he didn't want to pet the turtles, the bird or the hedgehog but when the snakes and tarantulas came out he had no problem touching them. Anyways it was a lot of fun and the kids really had a good time.


Brooklyn holding Mr. Box. If it looks like she is getting ready to eat a hamburger that is because Jungle Terry told the kids that is how you hold the turtles.


Here are Nolan and Brooklyn touching the corn snakes.


Maddux petting the tarantula. I was really surprised that all three kids had no problem touching him.


This was a 14' python that the kids loved. All the kids pet the snake and even got the chance to lift it up. All three got right in there with the rest of the kids and they all lifted the snake up and set it on top of their heads. It was kind of fun to see them interact with all the different animals. I just hope they don't try to pet one in the wild if they ever have the chance.

As part of the party Atticus' dad set up a zip line in the backyard. This may have been the biggest hit even though it took Brooklyn and Maddux some time to warm up to the idea. Nolan had no problem and absolutely loved it. Brooklyn was next and as you will see in the video mastered the grass-skiing technique. Maddux was the last to give it a try but after his first run could not get enough. Here are some short videos of the kids and their zip line rides.


Nolan on one of his many many rides.


Maddux on his second run. The only way we could get him to go down the first time was to hold him as he went. As soon as he figured out that is wasn't all that bad he didn't want to get off the thing.


Brooklyn might have been a little too tall because she ended up dragging her feet on the ground every time. Jed said he would raise it up next time for her.

Sunday night we had everyone over to our house for a BBQ and then watched the fireworks from our backyard. It is nice not having to go anywhere and deal with traffic. The kids ran outside all night with their sparklers and we set off a few fireworks of our own.

Then Monday we went over the Greg and Tacie's and BBQ again while the kids spent most of the day in the pool. It was very hot so they had a blast doing their thing in the pool.


Nolan just hanging out having some fun.


Maddux and Nolan having a little water fight.


Brooklyn catching a ride on the seal.


Nolan came out on the wrong end of the water fight and had to be comforted by his big sister.

All in all it was a very busy weekend but was also nice to spend time with our family and just kind of hang out. We had perfect weather and spent the whole weekend wearing out the kids. I know they slept very good that Monday night. We are grateful to all of those who fight and have fought to protect our country and enable us to do the things that we love.