God Bless the USA!

America's Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  After my parents divorced, my sister and I typically went to our dad's for the 4th of July and celebrated America's birthday with his friends and their families on the lake.  So many wonderful, carefree memories were made on Littlefield Lake while I was growing up: grilled hot dogs and burgers, Kool-Aid, watermelon slices, bike rides, lake swimming, water tubing, boat rides, sparklers, setting off fireworks next to the lake...always so much fun.  I will forever cherish those days with my dad's lifelong friends.

Now that I'm in Maryland, the 4th of July is a little different.  Instead of the lake, we celebrate at my in-laws' pool.  We still have grilled dogs and burgers, but at some point in the day, Maryland crabs are devoured, as well.  Sparklers always make an appearance, as well as some itty bitty backyard fireworks.

I love having 4th of July traditions and look forward to helping Max create wonderful summer memories!

Here are some photos from our holiday weekend.

Victor, Max, and I went outlet mall shopping on Friday the 3rd...and I've NEVER seen an outlet mall so busy in my life!!!  I don't like crowds...it was a bit overwhelming for me.  However, Victor got some new clothes and I got a cute new dress.  So it was worth it.

Max got to play with his buddy Annalise on the 4th

The only photo I got of him in his festive outfit.

Sparklers at 8 PM...right before Max and I came home so he could hit the hay.  He was sleepy.

All settled in Sunday morning (the 5th) for some "church," which is the Joel Osteen broadcast on FOX.

A clean kitchen is a happy kitchen.  And this is one jolly kitchen.  I even mopped!

This guy is getting so independent.  He's still very leery about walking by himself, but he's warming up to it.  He took about 8 steps between me and Victor, multiple times, on Sunday.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!