Candy, Candy, Candy - and Fireworks

I love the 4th of July. It is the sign that the summer is on full swing.  One of the greatest things about the 4th of July is all the fun activities!  We are getting ourselves a good routine and tradition of fun things to do.  It starts on the 3rd when we go down to North Salt Lake and watch the fireworks show they put on up there. My sister lives near by and her family goes up early to set up camp and get us some prime firework viewing real estate. Matt and I got up there just before the sun started to go down.  It gave us time to find the family and play with the kids a little before the fireworks started.

Waiting for the fireworks to start

The fireworks were great, they had some fun shaped ones and the show just kept going.  I am really amazed with the show up there.  Once it was over we hurried down to our car to beat the crowd and then went home.

The next morning was the 4th! and that can only mean one thing - Parade!  Matt and I have the responsibility of setting up the parade viewing spot for the family, and we chose a little different one this year at the top of the little hill instead of the bottom.  It proved to not be the best strategy when many of the parade participants ran out of candy and goodies before they got to us.  But i don't think we suffered too much in lack of candy. 

 D waiting for the parade to start

 Checking out our candy 

 Will wave for Candy

 Success!!!

Taking a break from the hard work of candy grabbing

After the parade we moved the party to our house for a BBQ.  It was super hot outside, so Matt braved the heat at the barbecue and the rest of us relaxed in the cool basement.  It didn't take long after eating before the kids were a little too excited to hang out inside anymore, and we pulled out my parent's old Slip n' Slide (from seriously 20 years ago) and set it up in the back yard.  My sister also brought a kiddy pool for the little ones to play in.

 A having a good time sliding

Some not so little kids tried sliding too

After having a ton of fun in the sun, the party broke up and we settled in for a little nap (slipping and sliding is hard work).  But we were soon up again and on our way to Bluffdale to visit Matt's sister and her family for another barbecue.  After eating they pulled out some fireworks, starting with the required sparklers.

   Then we set up on the back porch to watch the fireworks going off all across the valley.  I was surprised how many fireworks we saw!  I was also surprised how few fire trucks we heard going around.  But it was an amazing end to the fun holiday.