Happy 4th of July -- Sort of

We usually LOVE 4th of July, however this year Matt came home really ill on Monday. He had a CT scan on Tuesday and was diagnosed with diverticulitis. The medication he is on has absolutely horrible side effects, so the cure seems to be worse than the illness. So, Matt has been in bed since Thursday evening and couldn't partake in the festivities of the holiday with us. We are praying he feels better by the end of next week when he finishes his medication.

In our small town, they shut down the downtown area and have a car show, tons of vendors lining the streets and of course a parade! The kids and I went from booth to booth sampling Elephant Ears and Yakisoba noodles (their favorite!!! -- I need to learn how to make both of those dishes and the kids would be in heaven!!) We saw many of our friends while we were downtown and then ended our time there at the parade.

The kids watching the parade and preparing to dive for candy (except for Brandon and Ryan, who are "too old" for candy gathering)
The boys spent the afternoon playing baseball in our front yard (Ryan pitching to Brandon)
Ryley up to bat, with Brandon pitching

We had a barbecue for dinner and then went out to light off a few of our fireworks that are best seen during the day -- smoke bombs, snakes and poppers.

The kids with our festive 4th of July dessert! I'm not sure what Ryley was doing.Ryan lighting one of our many fireworks at home.

About 10 pm we walked down to the end of our street and to the home of our "future" playground to watch the city fireworks. They never disappoint us!
Let the fireworks begin (note: I have a new appreciation of firework photographers)
Miss Tori watching from the grass!

A short video of a small portion of our city firework show that I took for Matt since he was home in bed!