Fabulous Fourth!!

Albeit two weeks late, but--alas! I am here and am going to give you an inside glimpse to The Lopez Fourth of July! Family, Fun, Food, Friends and Fireworks are all of the wonderful F's that made up this Fantabulous day! In the morning, Andy, Jadyn and I relaxed at my parents house and took a leisurly swim in the pool. The day was BEA-utiful, to say the least! Around 4pm, we picked Ethan up and headed up to good 'ol Guthrie, Oklahoma (okay, so it's way-north Edmond, but it's on the cusp of the Guthrie border) to Andrea and Kevin's house (and baby Riley, too!) where we had a wonderful dinner and a great visit with Andy's family and Kevin's family. Much of the afternoon consisted of faulty dry-ice bombs and colorful stink bombs--darkness couldn't come fast enough, but when it did--THE MOST EXCITEMENT EVER is the best way to describe it. Armed with an ARSENOL of Fireworks provided by Kevin and Andrea, we were able to enjoy an hours-long display and the boys got to play with fire. Riley didn't even want to miss out. He decided sleeping wasn't good enough and that the adults were having too much fun so that little boy decided to stay up way past 10pm and he LOVED every second of it!!
It is amazing how many fireworks are ignited where it is legal. The boys got up on the roof and they described continuous fireworks displays blazing the sky in every direction -- all of them from private residences. At midnight, the entire neighborhood was still booming. Literally. The most fun was when the boys decided that throwing fireworks at each other was how they wanted to spend their time and it was HILARIOUS watching them jump here and there while trying to protect their toes from fire!
Around 12:30a.m., the fireworks had run out, but that only meant a trip to the fireworks stand. The girls (and Andy) went inside so the other boys could purchase more lethal weapons, when all of a sudden Kevin runs in the house and says "You guys have got to come outside and see what is going by. It's really weird" (not verbatim, but you get it)…and we go out on the front porch and all of these crazy lights are drifting soundlessly through the sky. I have never been more frightened in my entire life. They looked like UFO's trailing next to each other and going in a line. I just remember saying over and over 'This is NOT happening'…and it turns out, it wasn't--Kevin's friend (we shall call him "Q") called them Chinese Lanterns. (Those are lanterns that are released into the sky and they drift off until they burn out--mostly used in Chinese celebrations.) The feeling of fright that I had in the pit of my stomach upon seeing them is a feeling that I would NEVER like repeated again. It was even more sickening than sitting through a scary movie (Mothman Prophesies, Emily Rose…). Anyway…that concludes our Fabulous Fourth, with the exception of the long drive home at 1:30 in the morning!!!

Sadly, my night pictures didn't come out too well, but here are a few good day-pics!

The kids ready for a night of fun (yes, Ethan's sportin' a gold faux-hawk!)

Riley and Mommy about to try out the Mexican Slip and Slide!

Jadyn isn't afraid to light her some fireworks!

Ethan was lighting them all night long!!!