The 4th

Oh Independence Day, how I love you!
The 4th is my absolute favorite holiday. I am a summer girl through and through. I love heat and sunshine and being outdoors. One of my favorite things about summer is that you can be outside at night and it is still warm enough to wear shorts or splash in a pool. There is something seriously magical and electric about summer evenings. And while most of my 4th's have been spent at my absolute favorite place in the word (Flaming Gorge of course) and it makes me a little sad that we had to miss out on that this year (ok, a lot sad) our Independence Day weekend ROCKED this year. It was seriously SO STINKING FUN!

We kicked things off with a White Sox game on Friday evening.. Im not a baseball fan. Notice how I didn't say "Im not MUCH of a baseball fan"?.... that is because I am NOT a baseball fan. It bores me. Im sorry if this offends you but my mind has been tuned in to soccer for a lot of years and baseball just doesn't give me the high that soccer does. However, this game was a blast! The game didn't have much to do with the fun we had. It was being out on a summer night wearing festive 4th of July tattoos, watching thousands of crazy people, buying traditional baseball game foods and wondering around the stadium. The highlight of the night was definitely the fireworks after. Honestly probably the single coolest firework show I have ever seen. My kids eyes lit up with that magical look that only fireworks bring out in kids and it was just a really unforgettable awesome experience. It made for a REALLY late night but my kids were angels the entire time and went to bed as happy as could be.

The next day we spent in a neighboring town watching a hot air baloon launch and eating carnival foods. We ditched the place a little early because the crowds were starting to wear on us but on our way out, as the sun was setting, the lightening bugs came out so we stopped to catch us some of those awesome little bugs. I honestly think my favorite part about Illinois might be the lightening bugs. They are magical (apparently this was a "magical" weekend? Sorry Im not better with descriptive words?) It is THE coolest thing to walk through the woods and see them twinkling everywhere! Oh my... I love those little bugs.

 AnDee and I were SUPER festive and dyed our hair red with kool-aid.... That was suppose to wash out within two weeks... Its not washing out.

Sometimes when he says "cheese" it looks more like he is snarling..

After the bug catching we made it home in time to sit on our deck and watch all of our neighbors set of their fireworks.

We ended the weekend with a trip to the Kankakee river. We played in the water, caught toads, saw turtles and a beaver, took a nap in the woods.... and got eaten alive by mosquitos despite our bugspray covered bodies. The bites were worth it though. It was one of the best weekends we have had in a really long time. It makes me happy just thinking about it.