Celebrating Family and Independence

Meghan and I have gone to the Olathe 4th of July fireworks show for several years now.  Last year was Julie and Andrew's first year in Olathe, so we invited them.  This year Mom and Ron were available (and as a bonus it is Ron's birthday today!), so we invited them to come over as well.  Everyone came over mid-afternoon, and we had time to hang out and enjoy some great food that Meghan made for us.  We even had some fun red, white, and blue drinks which leveraged specific gravity of various liquids (I was the only one who seemed to enjoy thinking about it in those terms) to create a cool-looking drink. The kids were wearing their festive gear, as you can see.  Also, Julie humorously and accurately recreated a sad Hannah face.  As darkness fell, we left for the mall.  We got a decent parking spot and set up shop.  Meghan and I did some unofficial car seat inspecting (Baby Fouts' arrival is imminent) and we all then watched the show.  Joshua liked it quite a bit.  Clara had some trepidation at first, but by the end she had warmed up to the idea and was happily shouting "Boom!  Boom!" and making explosion motions with her hands.  (Notice a certain someone's trademark pigtail silhouette in the last picture.) Hannah watched with no fear, but if the pattern holds, next year will be her turn to request a retreat to the car.  It was a fun day, and it was great that a lot of our family could be together for it.