Happy 4th of July!

America - What a great place! I am so grateful to live in America. I appreciate the blessings of freedom that we so fully enjoy here. Because I have never lived in another country where people don't enjoy the freedoms and don't have the opportunities that we have here, I bet that I don't fully understand what I have here. But I certainly try. I think of those who have fought for America, and I am so grateful for them and their families. I know that so many have done so much to make America what it is, and I feel so blessed to live here!




On July 4th, Jordan and I participated in some of your typical "4th of July" events.
We went swimming...




with Rebecca and Chris,



... and Steve and Lou.




The boys went after each other in the pool.




And they also ganged up on their mom!






Then Jordan found a bug...




... and used it to scare Lou.




Bando gave Maxo a bath. (I'm not sure how typical that is for a July 4th activity, but it worked for Maxo!)




We enjoyed snow cones, and Rebecca and Chris were even patriotic in their color choices, (or flavors, I guess!)




Chris and Jordan grilled for the family. (YUM!)




And we watched some fireworks. The cool thing about Houston is that you can legally shoot off fireworks anywhere, as far as I know. (I never saw anything like this in Dallas growing up). So you don't have to go to a big firework show to see fireworks; you can simply walk outside when it gets dark, and you'll see them everywhere! This happened just down the street from Jordan's parents' house.

God Bless America!!!!!