Our 4th of July was the most relaxing day (with kids) that you can have. We were scheduled for nothing and barely left the house. I dressed up the kids for pictures (an event in itself, I suppose). Coraline was at the perfect stage where not everything goes in her mouth because she doesn’t have that kind of coordination yet and so I could give her the flag, which she did hold some though she got really distracted looking at it when she did.

Jameson loved waving the flag and sat still with the promise of Pez candy. Yep.

Friday we had some other activities which I will share shortly, but focusing on our Independence Day celebrations, we went over to my Aunt Carol’s for dinner Friday evening and spent time with my cousin Carrie, husband Brian and their daughters.

Jameson loves the little ladies! He enjoyed spending time with his cousins so much, and I’m so thankful we were able to go see fireworks with them so that they occupied some of his attention in the two hours we spent there waiting for them to start!

Aunt Carol selected a spot far enough away that the boom from the fireworks didn’t generate any vibration and wasn’t too loud for Jameson. We did bring his earmuffs just in case but we didn’t need to use them even after he had initially told us he was afraid.

We were not prepared with bug spray since we usually aren’t out that late with the kids we didn’t think about it. Luckily Carrie brought some and sprayed Jameson down for his very first bug spray experience. I’m not sure it mattered; even with bug spray on and an additional dose, all the mosquitos seemed most attracted to me and I ended up with rows of bites behind my knees, on my ankles and arms. At least there were none on my face this time.

Jameson enjoyed popcorn and visiting the firetruck that arrived. He slowly turned into a little crazy person the further from bedtime we got. He squealed, jumped, ran around and played with his cousins.

Then periodically he would just collapse onto Brian to rest for a moment before he was back at it!

Coraline passed out in the car on the way to the spot and stayed asleep the entire time, I was amazed! Coraline was protected from the bugs with a muslin blanket over top the already covered stroller so there were no openings for them to find and that seemed to work well. Neither of the kids ended up with any bug bites!

They gave out glow bracelets which Jameson enjoyed immensely, and then it was finally too dark for me to use my camera without flash. Which meant — fireworks soon!

Jameson gave us his usual solemn, intent stare face when he saw them which is the face that new things he experiences get.

And then, he became a little maniac again…

The fireworks weren’t too long, so then we were able to head home (with the addition of a new toy for Coraline the cousins outgrew); Jameson passed out in seconds and was home in bed by 11.