4th of July - food, fireworks and fire

This year we went to a friend's house for the 4th of July for his annual bash (4th of de Maya for those who know him). He goes all out for Independence Day - he spends a ton of money on fireworks (the big go off in the sky totally illegal kinds), plus plans events, food, drinks, music, and this year a few dance numbers in addition to an afternoon 3 on 3 soccer tournament - Matt's team won!).

Claire wanted to run all around, all the time - her cheeks were so pink. She wanted a sparkler so bad so we finally gave in and helped her with one. She only stayed in my lap once the big fireworks started and some were that loud, screeching kind - she didn't like those, but didn't seem scared at all even though they were going off maybe 50 yards from her.

The glow in the dark guys were hard to photograph but it was really fun to watch - they were an act between sets of fireworks displays and they had this whole choreographed dance number. The grand finale was when after the actual fireworks finale, the neighbor's tree caught on fire. I think that one will go down in history for memorable 4th of de Maya events.