4th of July Barbecue and FIREWORKS!

Tonight, we had the best night with some wonderful family and friends.  Earlier in the week, I took the kids twenty minutes north (where fireworks are legal) and bought a lot of fireworks!  For four years now, we have had the tradition of lighting off fireworks in our backyard.  Yes, they are illegal- but I just can't imagine depriving my children of the firework experience!  Our neighbor, Sam (a retired fire fighter) has always joined us in the backyard and I feel having him there makes it a little safer!

We decided to keep the barbecue basic so we had more time to spend with our friends, rather than fussing over the food.  We were so happy that the Uffelman Family, Gina, Sam, Heavenly & Pascale, and Ali and two of her roommates were able to join us.  It was definitely a great night and one that seemed perfect for a 4th of July celebration.

The kids could not wait for fireworks.  We tried to wait until it was completely dark, but they weren't having it.  We started with sparklers and let's just say that it might have been a little crazy.  Think seven kids with running around with sticks on fire.  I believe that Emily and Matthew were the only ones to run in the path of another child's sparkler so at least it was only my kids that got burned. 

After we had blown through our stash of smoke bombs, snakes, and sparklers- we set chairs up, established a safety perimeter, and got ready for the firework show!  Each year, Damien is our official fire starter.  He takes his job very seriously and he puts on a great show.  Brian cued up some patriotic music on his iPhone (we sang our patriotic hearts out) and Damien  gave a salute or two before setting off some of the fireworks.

All of us LOVED the firework show.  The parents sat behind the kids and it was just beautiful to see their silhouettes in the bright lights of the fireworks.  These truly are the days to remember.  Happy Fourth of July!