A Ross 4th of July.

We originally made plans to go to the 4th of July celebration at Patriots Park this year, but after seeing some people complain on Facebook that it was a bust, we decided at the last minute to go to the Riverwalk instead. It turned out fabulously! It was amazing how many people were there: I've never been to anything since living here where there were so many present. Despite the crowds, there was still much to do.
Half of the Augusta Common was completely covered in inflatable slides, which the kids went nuts about as soon as they laid eyes on them. The lines were really long for most of them, but luckily our boys are still young enough to not mind going down the short-line slides over and over. We snagged some balloons for Gabriel and Eli (which they promptly popped within an hour), a pinwheel for Noah, some hot dogs (procured after Noah tried to eat the pinwheel), and some yummy fresh lemonade.

The other half of the Common was dotted with picnic blankets and camping chairs where families were enjoying a live band. We ran into our good friends from church, the Thoms and Greenes, while there, and it was so nice to have some friends to enjoy the festivities with. They got a big kick out of our boys running around with their endless supply of energy.We headed down to the actual Riverwalk to watch the fireworks around 8:30, but it took an hour before the show began. Gabriel and Eli spent most of that hour hiking up the hill to the Riverwalk and running down it into Daddy's arms; needless to say, Ben was exhausted by the time fireworks began appearing in the sky.

I was worried the boys might freak out over the fireworks (or, "lights in the sky!", as Gabriel calls them), and although they were startled at first, they got over it pretty quickly. They all hid their faces in our necks from time to time, but they would pop up for a few minutes to ooh and aah over a particularly amazing burst of color. It was a wonderful, relaxing Independence Day spent with family and friends; can't get much better than that! We are so grateful for the freedoms we embrace as Americans.