Fourth of July Weekend

Happy Independence Day! We had a great weekend. We went up to my brother Paul's house on Saturday (4th of July) and stayed for the weekend. He claims that Idaho Falls has the best 4th of July fireworks west of the Mississippi. We wanted to check it out. We had a great time. When we arrived, we had a lunch BBQ of hamburgers and hot dogs. My niece, Samantha, made this yummy jello salad in the shape of the American Flag:

After the BBQ, we rode my brother's wave runners on the Snake River that is right behind his house. I forgot to get some pictures of our ride, but it was fun. It decided to rain a bit during our ride, even with the rain pelting our faces, we had a good time. However, at the end of our ride, my eyes were extremely puffy and itchy. I was allergic to something that runs along the river banks. It wasn't too long before Jeremy's eyes had the same reaction. We were fine after some allergy medication. (I bet you're sad that I didn't get any pictures of that!)
Later that night we went down town for dinner and fireworks. Melaleuca (the company my brother works for, who also put on the fire works show) sponsored a dinner and some entertainment before the firework show:

My sweet niece, Alexa, at the dinner.

After dinner they had as much ice cream as you wanted, but we didn't tell Kayden that. He loved the ice cream!

Lachlan (my nephew) and Josh entertaining themselves after dinner.

Jeremy was entertaining the kids, and me, with glow sticks while waiting for the firework show to start.

Kayden having fun with his glow sticks.

Lachlan and Josh now entertaining themselves with their glow sticks. They can be so silly!

McKay and Marissa (my niece) waiting for the firework show to begin.

My brother, Paul, hanging out with Bryan (above, also my nephew) and Jaxon (bottom) before the fireworks.

McKay takes after his dad.

Jaxon does too.

I must say, even though I don't have any pictures of the fireworks, they were amazing! The show lasted for thirty minutes and was beautifully choreographed with music that was played by a local radio station. I couldn't believe that the fireworks just kept on coming and coming. It was wonderful! It was much better than anything the Stadium of Fire has put on.
The next day we enjoyed being together as a family. My brother pulled out his rifle and target and let the boys each have a turn. I even got to shoot the gun, but the only thing that I was able to hit was the river behind the house. If firing a gun doesn't say family togetherness, than I don't know what does. :)

Paul and Josh shooting the gun together.

Later, Sunday night, we set off the fireworks that we brought up. A storm came in right as we started, but we stayed under the porch while watching the fireworks and were still able to enjoy them, even though they weren't nearly as good as the night before.

Everyone watching the fireworks under the porch.

Lighting off fireworks in the rain.

Monday morning, we did some floating down the river. I went in the tube twice while Jeremy took the kids in the raft and pulled McKay and Marissa on their tubes behind him. Even though the river was quite chilly, we still enjoyed it.

Samantha and Bryan (left) in their tubes and Jeremy in the boat with the little kids with McKay and Marissa on the orange tubes behind the boat.

Once I got to the dock, Kayden desperately wanted to get into the river. I plopped him into my tube, but that wasn't good enough. He wanted all the way in. I dipped him in and let him kick his feet and then he was good. He loved the river, a little too much that it got scary. We had to watch him like a hawk. We all had a great time and the cousins love being together.

*What did you do for the 4th of July?
**Did you go see fireworks or light some off?