Fourth of July boat ride

Yesterday we took my parents out for a Fourth of July boat ride.

They hung on for dear life and made it through okay.

You know we like to have a snack destination when we go boating. For this trip we took watermelon along.

Happy Fourth of July

Our neighbors got us tickets to a Red Wing's baseball game for the Fourth of July.

What is more American than baseball?

The baseball watching is fun but really isn't it all about the food?

My mom noticed right away that one of the Red Wing players is Korean. He was suddenly her favorite. He did do pretty well actually.

The coolest thing was after the game was over there were fireworks. We could see not only the stadium fireworks but the ones the City put off too.

Fireworks at the @rocredwings game. Treated to Rochester City fireworks in the background too. #roc #fourthofjuly

A video posted by Jenny Cisney (@ljc) on Jul 4, 2016 at 7:42pm PDT

In case you think all I ate today was bad food, here are the sausage and veggie kebabs Aaron cooked on the grill.

And I made a giant veggie dipping selection. Healthy choices on Independence Day!

Fourth of July decorations

July is a weird month because I want to decorate for the Fourth of July but then I have to live with the stars and stripes for 27 days after the holiday is over. I do have some pretty cute decorations though.

Red white and blue tea towels.

Very patriotic mantelscape. See my own photobomb?

I love this little detail. I found this liberty bell bank at my Grandma's.

Not every holiday gets it's own pillows.

This looked cool for July Fourth but then I had to take it down. It kept getting twisted up and blown off.

On the doors.

We will see how long I make it before I break down and switch to a summer beach theme.

Pug Rave

For fun I bought a pack of glow stick bracelets at the Dollar Tree before we left for the Fourth of July. One night that we built a fire for roasting hot dogs I got them out. Each pug had one on. It was great to be able to see where they were in the dark. We stopped Hugo from eating a toad for instance because I could see his suspicious behavior thanks to the glow sticks.

It's like a Pug Rave!

Everyone had them on as we sat around the fire.

It was a pretty good campfire.

After we had hot dogs we had to toast some marshmallows too. Campfire requirement.

Fourth of July Lobster Boil

We came to my parents' for the Fourth of July to do some house painting. We figured if we were going to work over the holiday weekend we better at least eat well. That means a lobster boil.

Add in some salt potatoes and corn on the cob and we had a meal that kept us painting with smiles on our faces.

Painting with light photography - with sparklers

Something I've always wanted to try was light painting photography with sparklers.

I set my camera to a long exposure setting and Aaron started with some basic shapes.

Then we tried spelling out "happy 4th".

A little shaky but you get the idea.

I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Fireworks show

On our way down to PA for the holiday weekend, the pugs insisted on stopping for some fireworks.

I choose fireworks by what cute animals are on the packaging.

This is the box they gave us to carry out fireworks out in. I think it was a prediction of what we would say when we saw the show Aaron was planning to set off.

I snapped a couple shots during the "show".

I like these shots of fireworks shooting into the air.

I had the camera set to long exposure to catch this.

I am always impressed by the variety of our selection.

What's the Fourth of July without fireworks?

From a few sparklers...

... to the big grand finale.

Happy Fourth of July

The pugs saw it coming and posed like champs for some Fourth of July pics.

Do we get our treats now?

Wally thinks he is cooler than the pugs.

I make this look good.

Ever hear the saying "Knee high by the Fourth of July"? The corn in PA is taller than me. From what I have read that is a good thing these days.

July Fourth Goodies

I picked up some goodies at the Dollar Tree for the Fourth of July. The pugs are eyeballing them thinking "We are going to have to wear those soon."

I am especially pleased with my $1 July Fourth flip flops.

Patriotic House

Aaron got a red white and blue bunting and hung it from the attic window. The house looks so patriotic for the Fourth of July.

Start of summer chalkboard

I refreshed our foyer chalkboard with a theme of Fourth of July and strawberries for summer. Working our way through a summer bucket list.

Star garland for July Fourth

I couldn't find a garland that was just right for my Fourth of July mantelscape, so I decided to make one. Some red, white and blue felt, a star template and string was all I needed.

Simple, but just right!

Fourth of July decorations

Since the Fourth of July comes so early in July, I figured I might as well put the decorations up now to replace the birthday ones for June.

Some patriotic decoratons for the kitchen too.