Pura Vida: Happy Birthday USA

We Celebrated our 4th of July in Payson, AZ

Lets go back a day before the 4th of July,
This is what it looked like the day before...

Here the boys are playing in the rain...until..

It starts to hail the size of small coins.

Devan runs for safety.

Dorian, decides to drink the rain water from the gutter!!! GROSS!!!

Note: Kids do not try this at home. Dorian learned his lesson after his mama told him not to and had a stomach virus later that night.

Moral of the story: Listen to your mom

Then Ayla says, "I don't need a shower, I just washed my hair"

Think again, my sweet baby doll.

She took a shower later and said,

"You were right mama.

My hair feels softer since I used your ca-ditioner and smells better"

Like I said, mama knows best.

Leo'nel my grandson, liked to look at the rain, not touch the rain.

The rain finally stopped in the early the next day.

Nothing was going to stop our trip to Payson.

Dorian got better as well, after all that muck was out of his body.

The next day we drove to Payson, AZ with my sister-in-law and her family. We took the 3 younger kids: Ayla, Devan, & Dorian.

Hannah and Oscar went to Las Vegas with their dad, Emma spent it with Alex, Chelsea was in Virginia, Tyrel, Kayla and Jordan were with their other families as well. Hannah had been here before and wanted to be here, she was missed as all her brothers and sister were as well.

The local parade started at 9am and we got there around 10:30 am. So we missed the parade. My kids have been here before so they were excited to be here. My niece and nephew I think were awestruck with Green Valley Park and went exploring while we struggled with our tarp tent.

We got here just in time to pick a perfect place and still enjoy activities.

We strolled down Main Street and visited local shops. I didn't have my camera to take pictures, garsh darn it. We walked around to the other side of the park.

There were Kid games & foot races hosted by Habitat for Humanity.

After there was Music by the band Johnny Anonymous & later the band Gypsy Juke Rockers. We could hear the music on the other side of the lake.
Mr. B stayed to take care of our fort.

FAR...

NEAR...

I'm so glad my kids aren't bashful, they got right in there and participated. Here Ayla is getting read for a relay. I wish I recorded it.

Carly, my niece wasn't to happy with Ayla. Ayla just stood there with her hands cupped. She didn't know she had to try to catch the water balloon.

So they lost at the first toss.

The girls were ready to go back to the fort, after we had snow cones. We bought a big bag of kettle corn as well. Earlier we ate brisket sandwiches or tacos. When we came back we ate hamburgers and hot dogs. We also made...

Can you guess?

Why S'mores of course!

We wrapped the graham crackers with a chocolate squares and marshmallow, in foil. Mr. B warmed it in the grill, and voila! The marshmallow is not burned and melts with the chocolate just right. Christian my nephew loved it.

Mr B doesn't like sweets, he wasn't to sure if he would like it,

"S'ta loca" (your crazy) he said as I took the before and after his sample.

Hey Mikey! He liked it!

Soon it was dusk and we took our tarps down.

The girls kept munching on food.

Here is my sister in law Nina and her husband Fabian.

Gosh, I hadn't noticed the park getting full of spectators.

Can you find the boys playing football among the sea of people?

Then the first firework went off. Did I tell you the fireworks were lit across from us? The reflection of the fireworks against the lake were breathtaking. The stars were bright and the sounds of the fireworks echoed in the valley.

Here is a sample of what we saw. I kept looking up and down at the reflection off the lake. The fireworks were spectacular. Non-stop fireworks for about 45min to an hour. The clip that I've included is half way through the show. I could not download the grand final. Hope you enjoyed the fourth as we did.

********************************

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!

Happy Fourth of July!
With many states allowing citizens to light their own firecrackers;