4th on the 5th

The rain ruined our plans on the 4th but we had a full, fun day on the 5th.  We spent the afternoon with our friends Melissa and Mark and their extended families.  Mark's parents invite us to their 4th of July party every year and we always have such a great time.  We capped off the fun with an early evening boat ride, which the girls loved.  That night, we took in Middletown's fireworks show, for the first time in 11 years - that's right, the girls have never been to the fireworks!  The jury is still out on whether they liked it enough to make it a tradition.

It wouldn't be a 4th of July party without ribs!

Emily found Lamb's Ear and couldn't wait to show me.

Elizabeth learned a new game - and almost beat Mark!

#selfie

Why eat an entire s'more when you can just have a nice, warm marshmallow?

#selfie (with a more willing participant!)

Elizabeth insisted that we bring their lifejackets - just in case there was a boat ride!

The dock is a little bit tricky....

Much to their delight, Mark let them sit up front.

Melissa and Maya

Their delight is not genetic - Lee and I were holding on for dear life, they were urging Mark to take the boat as fast as possible.  I can't remember if I was like that as a kid.

Playing ball with Elsa (Mari) on the lawn.

The girls engaged in plenty of people watching under our watchful eye - and that of our favorite Middletown detective, who was on fireworks duty.

Couldn't keep her eyes open one second more.