4th of July Weekend

My camera is officially missing. Brandon promises he didn't take it. The last time I had it was three weeks ago when I took pictures of the baby kittens that our cat had. (They are so cute by the way, and I was planning on posting about it, but the pictures are on the missing camera!) I was really sad this past weekend thinking about all of the cute 4th of July pictures that I would miss taking. Then I remembered that I forgot to give my sister, Cindy's, camera back that she loaned me. I was glad to be able to take a few pictures of the end of the day. Our 4th of July celebration started on the 3rd, with the "Red, White and You" celebration at Clement Park. We have gone the past few years, and have always had fun. This year we met Kristalyn and David there around 6 pm. We all got wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, and then had a little picnic. Then we just hung out for the next few hours. They had a bunch of bouncy houses, and huge slides for the kids to go on. I remember a few years ago having to climb up the big slide with Alexis. It was so hard, and I was anticipating having to help Levi this year. After waiting in a huge line with Kristalyn, Mason, and my three kids we finally got to the front. Levi hoped right up there and climbed all the way to the top all by himself. I was very proud (and relieved). After that Brandon and I took the kids and walked up Rebel Hill. It was neat to stand on the top and see the hundreds of people that were there. We could also see the Columbine Memorial from there. Brandon has never been to see it yet, so we took the kids down and walked through it. It is always emotional to go and read all the quotes and tributes. It always gives me a feeling of great sadness, but peace at the same time. I was glad to be able to go there with Brandon. He was very touched by the things that he read. After we were done there we went back to relax and wait a little bit longer for the fire works. My mom and Dad and Katie and Michael joined us. Around 9:30 the fireworks show started. It was a pretty good show. It could have been longer, but it still was really fun to watch. After it was over Alexis said, "We waited 6 hours for that?!" We got a good laugh out of that. We didn't wait 6 hours, but I guess it felt like that to her. The next day we decided to take the kids to Pirates Cove. We got kind of a late start in the day and didn't get there until after 12. We invited Katie and Michael to go with us. It was so crowded when we got there and we could hardly find a place to sit. We finally found a little patch of grass. Even though it was really crowded we still had fun. We are looking forward to going back in a few weeks to my parents ward activity there. Now onto the few pictures I did get. After we got home we went over to my parents house for a barbecue. My mom made tons on yummy food!
When it started to get dark we headed outside to do some fireworks. Here are the kids waiting to get started.

We did sparklers first. Levi and Tori were both a little hesitant, but they both ended up holding a couple. The next few pictures are kind of blurry from all of the smoke.

We took the kids to pick out the fireworks before we went to my parents house. They picked out a bunch of little ones including little teapots, frogs, and tanks. They weren't too exciting to watch, but it was fun to watch them each get excited when we were setting off one that they picked out. Tori made me go and get the tea pot for her after it was cooled down so she could take it home and play with it. She slept with it under her pillow that night. It was a nice relaxing fourth of July. The next day, Brandon's brother, Jeremy, and his family invited Alexis to go to Water world with their family. She had an absolute blast with her cousin Tallyn. We promised Tori that we would take her somewhere fun, since she was kind of sad that she didn't get to go. I have been wanting to check out this place called, My Art Work Shop, so we decided to head there and see what it was all about. It was the neatest place! I highly recommend it. They have all sorts of different crafts to choose from. You can pick wood to paint, pottery to paint, sand art, tie die, and so much more. The best part is the area they have there called "My Preschool Workshop" You pay eight dollars and your kids have unlimited access to everything in there for as long as they want. They had about a dozen age appropriate crafts that you can choose from, play dough, paint, glitter, and everything imaginable. Tori absolutely loves making crafts, so she was on cloud nine. She kept on saying, "I am going to make tons of stuff" and that she did. Levi loved it too. Here are some pictures.
You can see all of the paint on the walls in the back round. They pretty much let the kids do whatever they want there. The owners are so nice.
Not the best picture of Tori, lol. She looked so cute in her little apron.

I think Brandon and I had about as much fun as Tori and Levi. We actually ended up buying a year membership to the preschool workshop, so now we can bring the kids back whenever we want. They also have a story time there every week. What a fun place! I only wish we had discovered it sooner! So that's how our weekend went. I really hope to find my camera soon, but until then I will use my sister's (thanks Cindy!).