Friday night was spent eating too much, laughing too much and lighting things on fire. First, of course, was the traveling. The boys needed to keep up their strength for the long night ahead.

Once we got there, it was visiting with family and eating lots of food. Doesn’t that potato salad look good?

After dinner was an early birthday celebration for 13. He got to choose his cake. Lucky for me, he chose my favorite: Lemon Jello Cake.

But once the sun set, it was time for fireworks. Sparklers were the hit of the evening.

First, 9 ran with his sparkler.

Then Husband got into the act with two sparklers.

9 & 13 had to join in, of course.

Then it was time to light the bigger fireworks. There was a lot of running once something was lit.

Clearly, I’ve taught my children an appropriate appreciation for the dangers of fire. On the way home, we got to watch several up-in-the-sky fireworks displays, no crowds, no muss, no fuss. No traffic. A good time was had by all.

And the next day, I had this for lunch. Because there was no one around to stop me.

Leftovers ROCK!

The sand for our pool arrived Thursday. The mason’s sand will be used to level the ground below the pool. We need to make sure everything is nice and even because our neighbor does not want 3,000 gallons of water flowing through his yard. Not sure why he’s against it, but whatever.

***

In the interest of quality control, the boys checked it out thoroughly.

9 had spent much of the afternoon constructing roadways for a city.

Every city needs an express tunnel.

Uh, oh! Cave-in.

Since the whole city thing wasn’t working out,
the boys decided to go to war:
Water Balloon War.

They built their forts.

Readied their ammunition,

Vanquished!

Even without the ocean, sometimes, it’s just a day at the beach.

For those in the US, here’s wishing you a wonderful (and safe) day.

After we spend the morning hauling sand from the driveway to the backyard, we’re off to visit family, eat too much barbecue & potato salad, and take part in the annual pyrotechnic ritual in which citizens across this nation intentionally light things on fire just to watch what happens (don’t worry, the fireworks we have are tame and shouldn’t set anyone or anything ablaze — 9 is looking forward to the sparklers).

How will you celebrate today?

I have a photo in Wine on The Keyboard’s June Photo of the Month Contest. Head on over and vote for your favorite photo (really, vote for your favorite, it doesn’t have to be mine). I don’t know how long the voting is open, though, so head on over today.

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