Not-Quite-The-Fourth Party

With the fourth falling on a Wednesday this year, it seemed like a good idea to have a party the preceding Saturday. It was a wet and overcast day, but the rain cleared off just around 4 so we headed outdoors and had a great time despite the gloom. Hard to believe it's almost July, with the coats and rainboots, but we're adaptable.

I roasted a leg of lamb (tandoori-yogurt marinade was amazing) and we had lots of delicious sides. The kids particularly liked the unattended chip bowl.

 

A brief sprinkle of rain after dinner drove everyone onto the porch, but luckily it didn't last too long.

 

Our porch really is a nice place to hang out on a damp day. The beer cooler being on the porch might have had something to do with it too.

 

Hey, is he getting out some FIREWORKS?!

 

The little kids had a blast, as usual, running through the colored smoke from the smoke bombs. The grown-up kids had nearly as much fun lighting them.

 

Nothing like running through some who-knows-how-toxic purple smoke for a good time.

 

After we ran out of smoke bombs, the kids played for a while in Conan's "beach" - also known as the worlds tiniest sandbox. Apparently it's got room to fit more kids than we estimated!

 

Devious Kiah made off with the sand dollars. I didn't actually see what she was doing when I snapped the picture, but it does explain why I found a cache of sand dollars hidden on the porch the next day.

 

Finally it got dark enough for the REAL fireworks. I didn't get any pictures of them, but they were IMPRESSIVE. The kids stayed up until after 10:30, when they turned into pumpkins and just couldn't keep their eyes open any longer. Grown ups sat around the fire much later than that, enjoying the first taste of summer (really! it's summer!) we've had this cold wet June.