Fun on the Fourth

Another exciting Fourth of July has come and gone. Last year, we had both sets of grandparents here to celebrate the holiday as Reed was baptized the following morning.

Remember this??


This year, Grammy and Papa joined us again as their weekend travels have allowed them to spend the week with us. They arrived around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, and the fun began! Off to Godfathers for pizza, then on to the park to reserve our spot for the fireworks. We played and then played some more as we waited for the fireworks to begin, and for being such a late night, both boys did really well. Reed kept us on our toes and Drew provided Dad and Papa with endless, playful energy!















Another great fireworks show put on by the city of Pekin. Someone told me that they spend $50,000 annually for their fireworks display. I must say, it shows. :) My dad, who has seen his share of fireworks, even stated that these may be the best he's ever seen.

Curious as to what "the best" look like? Here's a snippet just for you!

fireworks from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

Reed was fascinated by the fireworks, although towards the end he got a little restless and distracted by the glowsticks and the grass and everything else. Drew was a little freaked out at first. He didn't like all the noise, and was afraid that the fireworks were going to fall down on him. He crawled up into Dad's lap, and as you can hear in the video, he was pretty cool with it as the show progressed.

We hope that your Fourth was as fun as ours!