Fourth of July.

Happy (belated) Fourth of July!  We spent part of our long weekend at Grams house, living it up by the swimming pool.  Grams didn't mess around and she put these kiddos to work.  Actually, she's got it all figured out..... she had them BEGGING HER if they could vacuum the pool.  If only I could figure out this trick so they would beg me to clean up their toys.....hmm...

Most of the morning of the Fourth was pretty miserable.  The kiddos were tired, super crabby and generally horrible to be around.  It was the kind of day where you rush lunch time and eat as early as possible in order to get to nap time sooner rather than later.  After napping for THREE HOURS, I finally go wake Lily up.  She hasn't taken a three hour nap in nearly a year.  About 30 minutes after that, Tyler finally got up.  They.  Were. Tired.

After that, it was a whole different story.  Way more agreeable to having fun instead of fussing and crying.  

There was a little bit of lazy floating going on.

Some jumping off the diving board.

Some popsicle eating.

And some poolside selfies.

After dinner, it was the moment Lily had been waiting for for a whole week!  Fireworks!  She was with me when we had bought a package of fireworks from Walmart and she had been asking and asking and asking and asking when it was going to be time for the fireworks.

Ohhhh, the anticipation!!

Tyler didn't care much for the noise.

The kids would take turns picking an explosive from the box and would "help" Daddy set them up in the driveway.

And then they'd run to the side of the driveway where they had to be "behind the line" before Daddy would light them.

 Tyler really didn't like the noise.

As soon as the fireworks were all done ($20 worth of fireworks done in probably 20 minutes or so), Joel and I ran while the kids weren't looking and took ourselves to a movie!  Thanks Grams!

We headed back to Columbus on Saturday after lunch and the kids slept most of the way.  Travelling with toddlers is all in the timing.  The car ride was so peaceful since they both slept for most of the way.  

We had to stop for gas.... which meant we had to pee..... which meant we walked by the candy counter.... which meant Mommy couldn't say no.  You'd think after 3.5 years of children in my life, I'd have learned a lesson about what kind of candy to direct the kids' attention to when riding in a car.  You know, something NOT chocolate and therefore NOT melty.....When will I learn??