Family, Food, and Fun for the Fourth!

This Independence Day, we made quite a splash!

At first we were all a little bummed when we realized that this year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday because it is one of our favorite holidays. We are a rather patriotic clan. We love this great nation, and when it comes to celebrating her, we go a bit crazy! Click here and here to see how I like to decorate fort the 4th (basically, everything gets covered in flags and buntings!) But beyond that, for us the 4th always means 3 things: food, family, and fun!

We thought having the 4th on a Sunday might just dampen a bit of the fun a bit, but as it turned out, having it on a Sunday meant that the party went on for 3 solid days! Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday! It was pretty darn fantastic!

Another thing that made this Independence Day weekend so special was that most of the Signs family were here which means lots, and lots of cousin time!

My sister, Mindy, and her family made a road trip down from Oregon to be here, and of course my parents and sis, Lisa already live here. Then my brother, Rick, in San Diego decided to drop everything and bring his family for a quick visit. The only one missing was Natalee and her family in Texas. We sure missed those guys a TON!

So the cousins spent the day swimming (kind of - it is just a spa/waterfall) and playing with the hose, and generally making quite a splash together!

Then, that night everyone came over for a big family dinner. The little ones got quite a kick out of the electric candles I had in the little luminary buckets. Luke, Jon, and Caleb all pretended they were fire-benders with the ability to hold fire in the palm of their hand. Zack was playing a shell game with a candle under the buckets. Poor kid. He was not too successful at fooling anyone, since the buckets all had holes punched in them, and the candle was glowing! Baby Zoe just thought it was a paci-fire. (Get it? Paci-fire? hehe)

We were all having a blast, and it was only the 3rd!

The next day we all enjoyed a wonderful, patriotic and spiritual time at church. It was fast Sunday, and our family pretty much took up one whole side of the church pews. Lots of folks were out of town, but we were most definitely in town, and made up about a fourth of the congregation.

I was a nervous wreck because I had to teach gospel doctrine for the first time ever. I taught about Psalms, and my inner language arts teacher and lit major came out, and I gave the class a 45 minute lecture on Hebrew poetry and chiasmus. I thought it was SO fascinating and exciting until I started teaching it and realized it was the most boring Sunday School lesson in history, (and that that is really saying something!) I am such a nerd!

Anyway, that night the whole clan came over for an All-American meal - BBQ chicken, hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, potato salad and baked beans! Oh, and a jello shaped like the United States (minus Hawaii, and Alaska, of course.) We just put it an the kids' table and let them dig right in and carve out their favorite state. "I want Florida." "I get Texas!" "No fair, all I got was Rhode Island."

For dessert I planned a special treat for the kids - cupcake kabobs! I made them with red, white, and blue mini-cupcakes, whole strawberries, and everyone's favorite red, white and blue striped marshmallows!

The cupcake kabobs were a hit and will definitely have to be added to our 4th of July traditions!

By the time the kabobs were devoured, it was getting late, so we all piled into our cars and followed each other down to the church were we got a good view of the fireworks. We drove into the parking lot just as the fireworks show started, so we all jumped out and watched it right from our car (or for some, literally on our car!) Take a look at our whole clan!

My kids had gotten these prism glasses at Legoland when we won our car on New Years Eve and they were so much fun to watch fireworks with, that we saved them for the fourth. They are like watching fireworks in a kaleidoscope! (the pic top left gives you some idea - I put the glasses over my camera lens.) Actually they are pretty fun with just regular lights, like just driving down the road at night (of course, as long as you are not the one actually driving!)

My favorite shot using a tripod and slow shutter speed. I love the silhouettes of the palm trees, the red and white stripes from the cars passing by, and the couple on the right watching the show. Cool, huh?

But when the fireworks stopped, the party wasn't over. Not for the Signs clan!

The night was just beginning.

I and my actual siblings went over to my parents house for official business. Dad recently visited with his brother, and picked up a bunch of my late grandmother's stuff, and so my parents used the opportunity of us all being together to divide up some of the family heirlooms. It was quite fun as we uncovered boxes of treasure - old glassware, linens, laces, dolls, and other fun old things. We also divided up some of the artwork done by both of my grandmothers. These were the most special pieces of all! We all had a great time together, (minus Nat, of course) and were there until almost 1:30am.

But that wasn't the only party going on that night.

While my siblings and I were all off dividing up grandma's treasures, the men were having a 24 marathon. Since Dennis had been laid up recovering from his knee surgery he has be watching several seasons of 24. Well, on Saturday when my two brothers-in-law came in to visit with Dennis who had his foot up and iced, they started watching with him. It was the start of season 3, and soon they were hooked! They had turned it off, such good righteous men, on Saturday night at midnight, and all decided that when the Sabbath was over, Sunday at midnight, they were turning it back on for an all night 24 marathon.

That is exactly what they did!

They were up all night, and continued well into Monday morning. They took turns taking a power nap here and there, but they stuck in there, kept pushing, and accomplished their goal! Victory was theirs!

I have no idea how all three of them fit into that tiny office all night long! I just know that I was in the next room trying to sleep to the sounds of tick-boom, tock-boom, tick-boom, tock-boom, all...night...long.

How is that for male bonding?

Meanwhile, all the cousins (minus the tiny ones) thought it would be a great idea to sleep out on the trampoline that night! All 12 of them!

They had a great time, and I got up early in hopes of snapping a few pictures of them as soon as it got light enough. But they rose even earlier than I did, because by the time I got out there, they were all coming in the house where they all found a place on the sofa for cartoon watching.

It was just so fun to see all these cousins all bundled up on the sofa together! We never had cousins growing up, and so it does my heart so good to see my kids having so much fun with all of their cousins! They all get along so well, and love being together!

Cousins are awesome! Family is the best!

I love it!!!

Day three of our Independence Days celebrations was about to begin!

For us, the very best and most anticipated part of this holiday is the big breakfast and water fight!

By big breakfast, we mean BIG! Big, big waffles with homemade buttermilk syrup (you will DIE when you taste this stuff!) with tons of fruit and whipped cream (red, white, and blue, of course), and brown sugar bacon (get ready because the picture alone will seriously clog your arteries!)

We are dead serious about our Independence day breakfast!!!!

OK folks, here it is. The Dad's famous brown sugar bacon!!! Is that just cruel for me to show you this, or what?

The trick, we have found, is to use the pre-cooked bacon, pile with brown sugar, and throw it in the oven until crispy brown.

HEAVEN!

The adults preferred the large round Belgium waffles, while the kids went with the rectangle ones because they could make them look like flags with a field of blueberry stars, and strawberry and whipped cream stripes. But in this case, they are not stars and stripes forever, since they don't even last 3 minutes before they are devoured!

Of course it was nearly noon by the time breakfast was ready, but it was SO worth the wait! In fact, Lisa fed the kids hot dogs before, just to hold them off until breakfast! :) (And if they got full, then good - all the more bacon for us!)

Just LOOK at that look of pure sublime satisfaction on Dennis' face eating that brown sugar bacon! He was savoring every sweet and salty, greasy and crunchy bite!

We all made room for seconds...and thirds.

Then, while the adults digested our bountous meal, the kids entertained themselves by jumping from the plaything onto the trampoline. We soon discontinued this game, but not before snapping a few fun pics.

Mindy and Ben. What a cute couple! Look at them snatching a big kiss in the middle of the water fight! They got their priorities straight! Glad to have them all here!

There was a whole lot of water being sprayed around way before the water fight began. We were hoping the kids would run out of ammo before the battle, but they never did!

The battle was just a continuation of the battle of the ages:

...grown ups...

...against kids!

Mom convinced Alex and Nathan that now that they are teenagers, they belong on the adult team. Mom thought this will a brilliant war strategy since Alex has earned himself the nichname of "the Machine" throughout the years of waterfights. He goes and goes and does not stop, and his favorite target is Grandma! But having them on our team turned out to be a bad idea, as about halfway though the fight they switched sides and started soaking their elders!

Eighteen. The new grown-up age is 18. Period!

Sure, they look all small, innocent, and harmless...

But watch out!

They are RUTHLESS!

They fought, and they fought, and they fought, until everyone was completely soaked, and then they insisted they won.

But I got footage of the carnage, and it is pretty clear who eventually suffered the most casualties. (Please notice the random foot in the top right corner.)

Once again, the adults claim the victory!

Suckkas!

So that was our 3rd, 4th, and 5th celebration.

I love this country and I love my family, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate our freedom and this God-given land of promise than with my family!

God bless the U.S.A.!!!