Happy Fourth of July!

Today I am doing a post about the Fourth of July!

                                                                       

This is an image of Lake Shabbonna.  In the background, a couple of flickering fireworks exploded into monstrous fireworks!  I love this photo because it has a spectacular setting by the lake, and in the sky, fireworks are going off. 

Here are facts about the Fourth of July:

∆  On July 4th, 1776, the U.S.A. declared the adoption of the Declaration of Independence which meant that the U.S.A. is not ruled by the Kingdom of Britain anymore. 

∆  In 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired in salute of the holiday, once in the morning, and once in the evening. 

∆  In 1779,  July 4th, fell on a Sunday, but it was celebrated on Monday, July 5th. 

First party at Natasha and Jeff's house

At Natasha and Jeff's house, they had very beautiful and cozy furniture.  This is a picture of my dad relaxing on a tilting chair that everyone loved. 

This is a picture of some lounge chairs. The chairs are called "lounge chairs" because when people get out of the ocean or pool, they lye in these chairs to get dried off. 

These chairs were definitely a favorite at the party because the adults were always sitting in them! Whenever somebody got out of one, somebody would take their spot. (Even though there were eight of them).  This chair was very popular because it had a drink holder on the side, and it was a bean bag. 

Natasha and Jeff are very organized and set up a couple of little tables with snacks and drinks were people can eat on. The adults would sit here and talk while the kids play. 

Natasha and Jeff made delicious kabobs with sweet strawberries and cake made into cubes.

For the special occasion, they bought red, white, and blue leis! Leis are Hawaiian necklaces people wear in Hawaii for celebrations. These leis were specially made for the Fourth of July because of the colors.   

While the parents talked and talked and talked...... the kids played dominos and swam in the hot pool!  They heated the pool to 92 degrees F˚ so it would feel like a jacuzzi! I really liked it because my pool is always really cold and it was chilly were they live, and some people didn't like it because it was too hot. 

Most of the kids played a competitive game of dominos! Some people teamed up, and some people went solo. I didn't know how, so somebody taught me, and after that, I enjoyed watching! 

Second party at Tanya and Raz's house

A lot of my friends from my neighborhood were at the party.  The two friends that I hung out with most was my best friend Kaylie, and my good friend, Sydney. 

For the special occasion, Tanya and Raz hired a taco maker to bring a grill and make delicious tacos.  Everybody devoured into them because they were so good! 

Besides the tacos, they had sides to eat. They had rice, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.  

All of the kids had their own table, and all of the adults had their own tables.  The best table there was the table under a mini hut. It was really pretty, but the kids were jumping off of it into the pool and people would get a little bit wet. 

Besides the pool and the food, they had a table inside of their house for crafts.  The table included duck tape to make wallets, beads to make bracelets, and string to make friendship bracelets.  

Tanya and Raz had a really nice view in their backyard to watch the fireworks.

The parents bought a lot of sparklers so everybody could get one. It took about thirty seconds to light it up, but it was really fun to make shapes and let the smoke last for a little while. 

It was also exciting to get glow sticks and light it up in the night.  In the picture, the glow stick doesn't show its color, but you can see the shape. 

Finally, the fireworks!  It was really hard to get a shot of the fireworks because they would fade away, so this is the only decent picture of a firework.

After the fireworks, Tanya brought out a flag cake! The white frosting represents the white stripes, the strawberries represent the red stripes, and the blueberries represent the stars. 

I had a great time at both of the parties, and hope that next year I can go to exciting parties like that again!

What did you do for the Fourth of July?

Do you know any facts about fireworks?

Have you ever hired somebody/people to go to your party and make food?