Independence Day

We had lots of fun over the holiday weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake. Lots of "firsts" took place:

1. The buddies bought their first fireworks. Grandma went to the local stand the day before and picked out exciting crackers for each boy and left them with the owner in bags with each boys' name. When we arrived, she handed Ace and Ben $10 each and drove them to the stand. They held out their bills and said, "I'd like to buy some fireworks, please. My name is Ace / Ben."

2. Daddy lit his first fireworks (really!). We can officially call him a Texan now, after 13 years in the state.

3. The buddies played with their first sparklers.

4. They caught their first fish - two perch from inside Grandpa's boathouse. Ace stuck around to catch four more and then he and Daddy set them all free again.

5. I water skied for the first time, post kids. It was awesome! Steve skied too, also his first time since the buddies joined our family.

6. The boys participated in their first turtle races, a family July 4th tradition that probably dates back 25 years. They named their turtles "Michael" (Ben) and "Tree" (Ace), although we tried to convince them to come up with more turtle-ish names. Neither of our turtles placed but it was fun nonetheless.

7. Ace took part in his first grape spitting contest.

8. Ben helped out in his first flag raising ceremony with Grandpa. He also jumped off Grandpa's dock into the lake for the first time. During our last trip, that was "too scary" for him, although Ace must have jumped off 25 times.

It was a big time.

We also took part in the 5th annual Buncombe Creek Independence Day Parade and Party. The buddies decorated and rode their scooters, but pooped out in the 100+ degree weather after a short while and hopped on the golf cart "float" with Grandpa and I. They tossed "sucker pops" at the spectators and Pop and I tossed Nacho Cheese Doritos (of course). And, we enjoyed a neighbor's fireworks display on Friday night but missed out on our boatside show when bad weather thwarted our plans.

Check out all the pictures here.