Happy 4th!

We had a fun 4th of July.  Since fireworks are now banned in Vancouver, we decided to invite ourselves over to a friend's home in neighboring Camas where fireworks are still legal.

So on the 4th, we drove over there (about 1/4 mile from our house) to the fireworks stand to buy fireworks.  Karina is very decisive and after one minute, chose what she wanted.  On the other end of the spectrum is Eliana who took a while to make a decision on what to get.  Each kid was allowed to choose two items to buy.

In the evening, we went over to our friend's house.  Since the sun sets so late here, around 9pm it was still light.

You may have noticed that Xiao Yu wears glasses now!  He wears them to help correct an issue with his eyes. Now Gabriel is the only person in the family who doesn't wear glasses!  We told him his day is coming.

We started setting off some stuff.  Some of it was very loud, so that's why the kids are covering their ears.

It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous sunset.  It made for a nice background while the kids played with the sparklers.

Later in the evening, we lit the bigger things.

And as the evening wore on, we lit many things at once.  It was getting pretty late and we were trying to use up our supply--or else we'd have to store it until next year!

And other people in the community obviously spent a lot more money than us, and bought huge fireworks.  We enjoyed watching those as well.

We had a great 4th, and we hope you did too!