Let's celebrate the fourth!

This year my aunt Patty and uncle Allen offered to host a get together at their house in Chagrin Falls.  We were all so excited to be together and her kids (my cousins), Christin and Cory flew in for the fun too!

Cory and Kayla

Christin and Brandon (they are getting married next June)

LeAnn and Jessica

We had a huge BBQ with tons of food and desserts to eat. 

Look at those smiles

In the basement, there was a game room with a ping pong tale, foosball tale, card table, and a slot machine.  The boys had a great time playing foosball.

All the girls hanging out playing cards together

Look at these boys...up to no good!

The temperature was perfect for a water fight.  We had a sprinkler going along with water guns and water balloons.  In the background you can see Paw Paw eyeing up the water balloons because soon after this picture he was quickly in on the water fun.

Addie and DeClan

Water Craziness

Check out these two!

Mason is prepared to soak anyone who passes by.  Micah waits patiently for his turn to shoot.

Angie came along to celebrate the fourth with us. 

Carter and I went out to explore the pond.

We saw frogs and a turtle in the pond.

Mom and I

Landon wanted to crawl into catch the frogs.

Christin is trying out Danielle's Rodan+Fields face mask!

A funny thing happened...a family game of flip cup!  Why not!  Many of us drank water and beer but had such a fun time!  This might just become a family tradition!

I love the cheering and celebrating!

Last year, Patty and Allan met us down at Lakeview Beach in Lorain to watch the fireworks on the beach.  They loved it so much they wanted to come back this year.  It was a perfect night for fireworks.

Landon climbed the monkeybars at the beach while we watched the sunset.

Grandma Grocho and Angie joined us for the fireworks.

Beautiful Sunset

The fireworks were awesome.  There is just something special about being able to sit on the beach with your feet in the sand and watch fireworks light up the sky.  Pretty special to do that in the company of your family!

Monday was officially the fourth of July!  We started the day off with firework colored elephant ears made by Grandma Angie.

After breakfast we jumped into the car and drove out to a new nature hiking spot.  It was over in Hinkley. 

Look at those muscles!

We had both Grandma Angie and Maw Maw along with us!  What a cool hike. There were lots of rock formations to crawl and climb on.

Carter loves to climb and explore

I call these "tight squeezes" but the boys loved to walk right through them anxious to see what is on the other side.  Landon spotted a little black mouse crawling on the rocks.

Grandma Angie and Carter stop to rest and gaze at the beauty of landscape.

Landon and I crawled and clinged to the edge of this rock. 

These boys are growing up too fast.

Maw Maw and Landon pose on a rock...this is Landon's go to pose for the summer. Maybe a bird will poop on that lip and he will start to smile instead...fingers crossed he gets out of this phase fast.

These boys make it all worth it!