Fourth of July fun

For me the 4th will always be a Midwest holiday - BBQ's, sparklers, lounging by the lake, fireworks that are questionably legal. But we're heading to Chicago at the end of the month, so decided to stay local again this year. Fortunately we had a ton of activities planned that made for a really fun long weekend.

My dear college friend, Jenny, always comes to town for the holiday. She lives up in San Jose so this is the only time I get to see her. It's so fun having known each other back in the crazy days of college and now getting to spend time together with our spouses, kids and extended family!

 A rousing game of paddle ball

 Pool time!

 Water guns are a 4th of July must!

Anderson loves cowgirl boots as much as Paige, which means they're destined to be besties

 Friends for 15+ years

Movie time! 

We also made it to our neighborhood 4th of July block party this year, which was really fun. They had all kinds of carnival games for the kids, Italian ice, face painting, bouncy houses, etc.

 I love this pic

 Mac playing the "get the ping pong ball in the glass fish jar" game that my Dad used to spend a million dollars on for me when I was a kid

Strong girl! 

We also managed to fit in a hike on Sunday to the flag at the top of the mountain near our house. This is one of our favorite hikes because it's close and we can see our house and neighborhood from the top! Plus, it felt sort of patriotic.

We never did make it to a fireworks show this year (they were cancelled in our neighborhood) so hoping we can catch a few when we get back to the Midwest!