July 4th

We celebrated the 4th of July with a nice extended weekend.  Wednesday night, July 3rd, the Ashers hosting their 2nd annual (or is it 3rd now?) Adult Independence Day party.  We of course had a nice time and the boys had a fun sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Lang's house.

On the 4th we took the crew up to the carnival in O'Fallon.  Jack, Addi and Reghan had a fun time riding on all the rides.  Unfortunately the height restriction prevented Charlie and Ethan from riding most, but they still had a fun time too.

Then we discovered a blow-up obstacle course, which was super fun, so we did that about 5 times before we headed home.

 I love these next 6 pictures because they totally speak to each of the big kids' personalities....

 Addi - gung ho jumping off the top

Jack, same way and even more so - I'm not even sure he landed on the slide at all...

 And then sweet little Reghan took the cautious route down...

 Charlie and Ethan even took a turn through the course

 And Charlie thought he was hot stuff!!

After the carnival, we headed back to the Lades' house for an evening of fireworks courtesy of Steve and Shea.  The kids enjoyed the snap pop things (I don't know their real name?).

 Jack's favorite was trying to catch the parachutes before they landed (only after a grown-up went into the street and assured him he could go out there too)

 Charlie enjoyed a festive cupcake

Another fun holiday in the books!