our Fourth

We had a great day yesterday! One of the best Fourth of July's ever in my book. Of course, I've never done much to celebrate Independence Day... I'm not a huge fan of fireworks and most years lately it's just been easier to put the kids to bed like normal and sit around at home. But this year we decided to have some fun.
First the Swinigans came over in the morning to hang out and for an early lunch and we all went over for some play in the pool. We all had fun; Savannah was so excited all morning about having Norah come and play and swim with her!
Here are just a couple of shots of our day at the pool. I was too busy chasing Sawyer around to take as many pictures as I wanted to...


Here's little Lucy flying high with her daddy!








The Malones (plus Michael's little brother Brett) had come to join us at the pool as well. Finally at after 2 o'clock, the Swinigans headed home and I came back to our house to put Sawyer down for a nap. Ryan brought Savannah back at almost 3 so she could lay down for awhile, and then he went back to bake in the sun and soak in the water with the others for another hour or so. When everyone was thouroughly all pooled out, we just hung at our house and chatted for a bit. It was our last visit with the Malones as expectant parents! They are in the hospital as I type, waiting to meet (and possibly have already met) their little one!! Erin's water was broken just before noon today, so we're waiting to hear word anytime!! So, so exciting!

After the kids woke from their late naps (at 5 o'clock!) we said goodbye to the Malones and packed up to head out to the Fourth of July Festival here in O'Fallon. We had such a fun time! Coming from Portland, where yes they have great festivals and fairs but they cost an arm and a leg, it was so nice to have a great local fair with so much stuff to do FOR FREE! Parking was free, getting into the festival itself was free, and sure the rides and food cost $$, but they had a whole big kids area with a ton of free stuff for the kids to do. Facepainting, crafts, puppet shows, petting zoos, animal acts, magic shows, inflatables, a playground... I could go on and on. We rode a few rides, ate a few hot dogs, and hung out until the fireworks. I was quite impressed. I knew that St. Louis offered more free, major visitor attractions (museums, the zoo, the science center and tons more) than anyplace out of the nation's capital, but I didn't know that would run over into the suburbs out here! We had a blast and the kids were great. Sure it was a (extremely) late night for everyone, but it was fun!