Happy 4th of July!

Our block had it's third annual 4th of July block party this year. The first couple shots below are from the backyard on Friday night - Adam and Gary were filling water balloons, and Zak seemed to be a target (thus the missing shirt - he was soaked!). He's running around trying to hit bubbles with his bat.

Just a warning - there are a lot of pictures - they're mine, my mom's and Cindy's

Josh just chillin' with Grandma

Great Grandma Frankie made it down to meet Josh and join in the festivities. Unfortunately Grandpa Bob hurt his back and wasn't able to make it down with Grandma Barbara and Great Grandma Frankie - we missed him!

There was a giant bounce house, and Zak was in and out of it all day. He's headed to climb up to the slide here.

Jump Jump Jump

MY water balloon

Filling water balloons is a group effort

Zak's sprinkler pool makes its first appearance of the year

Josh and Grandma Barbara

Jaden (he and his dad Chris stopped by for a little while) and Zak playing in the pool with water guns - Zak didn't quite get the hang of filling it, but liked to spray it

Zak during the water balloon fight - they had a middle neutral area so the little kids could get into the action. Unfortunately, Zak didn't want to be in the middle area by himself (he wanted to be with Daddy and Grandpa), so I had to go with him - I was a target for many a balloon, since it wasn't really fair for me to throw from the kid area

Our side won - the other side had like 3,500 balloons while we had about 4,000 (of course guys were doing the counts, so who knows how many there really were...)

Great Grandma Frankie gets into the action

So does Grandma Barbara (okay, maybe these were a little staged, since the fight was in the street)

Zak had a great time

The aftermath

Grandma Cindy and Great Aunt JoAnn with Josh

Great Grandma Frankie brought the boys shirts. They're sitting in the wagon, but unfortunately Zak missed the parade since it was later than last year and during nap time (yes, we did get him to take a little nap, since we knew he would be up late)

Grandpa Gary

Here are a couple smiling shots. I'm not quite sure why I attached the pacifier, he's still not a big fan of it, but will take it sometimes

Zak and Jack playing with the "new fancy car" as Zak called it that he got from Great Grandma Frankie (the Gislers were block party hopping and were able to stop by)

In the bounce house w/ Grandpa

Zak and Jack wrestle with Grandpa

Patrick Klink and Nick coming down the stairs while Zak wrestles Grandpa

The four generation shot - apparently I did not get the memo about wearing red

How do you make three little boys cry? Take away the bounce house. Since they all seemed to melt down when the truck came to take away the big bounce house, we pulled ours out for the fun to continue

Since the boys were filthy, bathtime was a good idea before fireworks. Zak was helping to wash Jack - I also have a great video of this - will be great to pull out when they are teenagers!

Mona Jack and Zak ready to watch fireworks

Here's a sample of the fireworks. We had a giant box, and the Gislers brought over a giant box - Adam and Nick had a great time lighting them. In years past the block went in on them - this year everyone seemed to do their own, so there were a lot to look at

Eating chips and enjoying the show

Zak was cute when I put him to bed - he thanked me for the fireworks. A great time was had by all.