4th of July with Grandma and Pa Brown

The last couple years we had gone to SLO for the 4th but this year Ryan's mom and dad came to our house...I think we were being used for our air conditioning as it was towards the end of the intense heat wave.  :)  But we got to do so many fun things while they were here and the boys loved having them around.  From hanging around the house, to playing with chalk on our back patio, swimming in their little pool, a great night for Jake and his first fireworks and then a night alone with Grandma and Pa while Ryan and I had a date night....we all had a really great time.  That is a really great thing about this blog, I get to concrete down all these memories and keep them for the future while we also get to share them with our friends and family.  :)

 AJ showing off his chalk.  Mornings are the best time to let the boys play outside as its cooler and much more pleasant to be outside...also explains why they are still in their jammies.  :)

Pa laughing at AJ's coloring style 

 AJ showing off his artistic skills

 Jake is really concentrating on his picture

 Having fun with Grandma Peg

 Happy Happy Boy...who also happens to be covered in chalk...it was straight to the bath with these two after we were done.

 These boys can never get enough of coloring.  Here Jake got both Grandma and Pa to color with him.

 Pa had to share the couch with the boys....he doesn't seem to mind much though.  :)

 Some serious reading

 My boys having fun reading on their own.  Jake was studying up on the new Toy's R Us catalog as we were about to take him there to pick out a new backpack for starting preschool in August.  What did he choose?  A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Backpack and a Bumblebee Transformer Lunchbox.  :) 

 This 4th of July we let Jake do fireworks for the very first time.  Unfortunately AJ did not get to enjoy them as he was already in bed asleep.  We were trying to go out in the dark to start them but Jake was starting to get tired and so we had to start early.  But he quickly fell in love with fireworks and got all hyper, so we were able to take a dessert break and then do the rest in the dark.  But the plus side was that I was able to get some great pictures in the light.  :)  Here is Jake with his very first firework...a sparkler.

When we did a bigger one Jake was pretty excited... 

 ...and even a little amazed :)

 Loving fireworks :)

 One of his favorites was the little ones that you can light throw and then they spin around really fast and show a little globe of color.  Here he is lighting his first one...

 ...and the throw :)

Enjoying the show while sitting with his grandma in the bed of our truck :)

 Happy Fireworks boy

I think we all had a really great time!

But never fear, in case anything got out of hand...we had a little firefighter at the ready.  :)

AJ loves these drawing toys, does not matter how big it is or how well it works, he loves them.

Playing with "guys" as their daddy calls them.  So much fun watching these two play superheroes.  Jake knows them all by name, AJ calls them all "man."  :)