Well, I'm not nearly as quick on these things... sorry!
We had BLAST at the Caceres's for the 4th!!!
We went up to the property for the long weekend and then headed to Katrina's on Saturday.
It seems that a few of us had camera issues. The batteries were gone of my Cannon camera, so I tried my best to take pictures from the Sony video camera (it takes still pictures too, so it works out great). The only issue is the video camera doesn't have as many cool features so it's harder to get those great shots and I don't have that many. BUT I have pictures to show how much fun we had!
As soon as we got there, the kids were ready to play in the water. They had 2 water slides and a pool and man, did they love it!
Dayton at the top of the slide, getting ready to go down... Samuel is there climbing up the side.
Dayton on the left, still climbing up, Micah on the right waiting for Dayton.
The cousin's going down the slide together!
Here's Micah getting out of the "warm" pool... & I can't tell if Dayton is going in or getting out. Anyway, it was funny, the kids would run and jump on one of the long ends and run through the water and jump out the other end. I have it on video, but Dayton really put on a show to get himself all syked out before the run... breathing hard, counting to 5, pumping his arms... it was a great show... he was serious about getting into that pool!!!
Here's Theresa and Billy Jordan holding Amara... they were so good with her, Thank you for all your help! (Actually there wasn't a shortage at all for help with Amara... thank you all!)
So next on the agenda:
We ate a great meal (I'm sorry, I don't have any pictures of that, but if you go to Katrina's blog, she has pictures of the food & chocolate fountain!!)
Next was the water balloon fight... that was over WAY too soon. As we were clearing the tables during the water fight, I'm not sure if anyone got pictures. I know I didn't and we all KNOW Katrina didn't since she tried to take Jerome on with the hose... I can't tell you who won since Jerome realized the only way to get Katrina was to sacrifice himself and yep... they BOTH went into the pool!!! Nope... Sorry Mom... I looked, no pictures.
Next is one of my favorite parts, I love how we line up the chairs in front of the house and the Dad's get to play with the fireworks! Most of my pictures are from this time... Hope you enjoy... I know I did!!! Ah, I love the 4th of July at the Caceres's!!!
Jenny, one of the mom's brought Popsicles for the kids.... WHAT A GREAT IDEA THANK YOU! So here's a picture of Theresa feeding Amara a nice cool Popsicle... Awe nice on those new teeth!
The three boys... cousins in their matching USA shirts.
Here's Jerome talking to Taryn and Syrah about the fireworks... serious stuff you know!
Here's Katrina getting ready to hold up the fireworks that Jerome got in honor of his sister... Totally Jacked! OK, there is a great story here... Last year, Jerome didn't know what he got, but he got this firework cake that said "Mr. Big Stuff"... we all laughed and joked with Jerome that he bought it for the name and Katrina blogged a picture of Jerome holding the cake in his arms doing a hulk man pose. Much to our delight and surprise!!! Mr. Big Stuff ROCKED!!! It was awesome!!! So this year, Jerome (and Dayton) did everything they could do to find this same cake. We went to the Indian reservation and asked around... Dayton would say "um, excuse me, we are looking for the big stuff". Well the people would laugh and say... of course we sell the "big stuff" and look at Jerome and say what do you want. We thought Dayton was SO CUTE! We would explain that he was looking for the actual cake Mr. Big Stuff... come to find out... they don't make it anymore, it was replaced by... TOTALLY JACKED! Now this is even more fitting!!!! Dayton named his dinosaur jack-up because we just got done from a day with Katrina and somewhere during the day she said she was excited and all jacked up over something. Dayton asked Katrina what that was and Katrina said she was just so excited, so Dayton named his dinosaur after Katrina and NOW... we find the cake Totally Jacked replaced Mr. Big Stuff... it was awesome, we bought 2 for the finale. So with buying 2 we got one free... so we went with ONE BAD MOTHER... and it was AWESOME!!! It filled the skyline from as far as we could see... it was cool!!! So I'm sure next year, we'll be looking for Totally Jacket and One Bad Mother!
Katrina posing for Totally Jacked... Thanks Katrina!!
GOOD TIMES!!!!!! So, before the "big stuff" we have a routine...
- parachutes
- tank wars
- sparklers before the big stuff
- big stuff when it's dark
- sparklers again to end the night
Here's Dayton at stage two catching his parachute.
Here's the kids getting in line for the next set of parachutes.
Here's Morgan saving Dayton's 2nd parachute from a tree... Thanks!
So I'm not 100% sure who brought the big parachute item, but it shot off like 6 rounds of 4 parachutes each... I don't know it was a ton... all in the air floating down at once, it was AWESOME!! I loved it!!
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OK... GET READY FOR...
TANK WARS!!!
I like tank wars... the kids strategically place tanks in place to destroy the bigger tanks!!
This one's a jet, but see how the kids are planning and plotting...
The stage is set for a great war!
Here's some small tanks and big tanks getting started...
LOVE IT!!!! Having fun with TANK WARS!!!
So what do you do with "spent" tanks... put them in a pile and watch them burn baby!!!
Smore's anyone? Just Kidding!
And the kids are having fun too!!! Here they are from left to right:
Taryn, Syrah, Samuel, Morgan, Abby, and Sadie holding Dayton and Micah
(not pictured: Levi and Amara)
I just want to say, all the kids were awesome with a long day of heat and running hard, everyone did awesome... it was so fun to be there and be a part of that!!
My favorite part... getting ready to watch!
Sparklers... getting ready for the big stuff!
I don't have pictures of all the big stuff, but between the sparklers and the big stuff, we found these things called night lanterns or something like that, we were only able to find 4 and we bought them out... they were beautiful and amazing. They were like hot air balloons and went up in the air and floated away, amazing to watch! They were fully biodegradable and when the little patch of fuel ran out, the flame runs out and they float to the ground.
It was a little weird to see these things floating in the sky with an open flame... makes a person nervous, but they did great, it was beautiful... I want to do them again next year!
Dayton dancing in front of the TV "getting his sillies out". Yo Gabba Gabba is a kid's show that Dayton likes and they sing silly songs like "There's a party in my Tummy" and "Getting the Sillies out" Dayton likes to be silly sometimes!
Yeah! Aunt Katrina and Cousins Samuel and Micah are here! Dayton is greeting them!
I love this picture, Amara and Micah hanging out (actually Micah was helping Amara stay out of the dirt... Thank you Micah!)
Here's the family ready to eat... Michael was able to join us too!! There's Katrina, Dayton, Samuel in the back there, Grandpa Buddy, Jerome, Shai, Amara, Michael, and Micah... Grandma was taking the picture (thank you Grandma)!
Samuel 
Micah
Dayton
Amara
The traditional pajama picture!!!
Micah knows there has to be one around here somewhere!
