Festive Fourth

I would like to personally thank the founding fathers for making yesterday possible. My very good friend, Julie Roughan, invited us over for a bbq. (And by very good friend, I mean she's the woman who watched my three oldest kids overnight two nights in a row while I kept having false alarms with being induced. She would've watched them again if my Mom hadn't shown up)Now, back to the fourth: The first treat came at 8:45am when we woke up! Wow! We haven't slept that late in a long time. I think our kids are starting to get the hang of this summer schedule. We layed around all day doing basically nothing. Then, it was time to go to Julie's bbq. This woman knows how to throw a party. The food was amazing! I'm not exaggerating when I say that Matt's first plate of food consisted of: a bratwurst, a hamburger, steak, and ribs. Unfortunately, he didn't save room for the fried chicken, hot dogs, millions of delicious salads or the AMAZING grilled vegetables! Oh, and I forgot the homemade rootbeer. Julie's backyard is huge complete with batting cages, a beautiful swimming pool, gorgeous patio with built in grill and outdoor wood stove, plenty of covered patio seating and a perfectly manicured lawn. Our kids were so excited to go swimming. I brought my suit, but never had to put it on because Megan (the world's greatest babysitter and Julie's daughter) was on it. She pushed Jack around on a floaty chair, helped Joel go down the slide and taught Merr a few tricks. I just sat by and enjoyed it all! Matt did get in the pool for a rousing game of water basketball. Who blames him? And so the evening went, until the sun went down. Platters and platters of amazing desserts were brought out and all of the lawn chairs were arranged facing the pool. Moses Lake's city fireworks show had nothing on the fireworks show at Julie Roughan's house, right over the pool. And I would know. From her house on the hill, we could see fireworks everywhere! Who knew Moses Lake is all about the fireworks?! From houses as close as two doors down, to the city fireworks a few miles away, we probably saw 12 or more fireworks shows all going on simultaneously with our own. But ours had the reflection in the water of the pool. And the comfort of our nice chairs. And the yummy treats. And the good friends. And when we pulled into our driveway, all the children were fast asleep!