Independence Day

That evening, we went to my sister Jeanine's to swim in their complex's pool. It actually wasn't really hot since the sky had become cloudy, so the pool water felt a little too chilly for my liking. So, I mostly hung out pool side and took pictures, with a little feet-dipping in the hot tub & pool interspersed. Here are my favorites...

The kids were very excited about going swimming; the boys had been asking me since school got out when we were going to swim "at Josh & Tyler's". I like this picture of Brandon 'cause he looks kinda goofy with his goggle straps pushing down his ears, but I can tell how happy he was in that moment.

I love watching Peter swim. It's effortless for him. And, one thing most of you might not know about me is that I'm a bad swimmer. I barely passed my Advanced Beginner's swim class in 5th grade (when most were at least two classes ahead of me) because I was so afraid of the deep end (it WAS a huge, 13-foot deep pool) and I couldn't get the hang of diving (I think it was the 'ducking my head and then jumping in blindly' that I was hung up on). Anyway, Peter was on the swim team his first two years of high school, so to me, he's amazing! Here he is, donning some bright pink goggles that had been left at the pool (ew), catching his breath before swimming back to where he started at the opposite end of the pool.

When Peter took off the goggles, he unknowingly had "wings", and it gave Brandon and I a good laugh. Maybe he should start wearing his hair like this all the time..! :)

What a nice cousin Josh is!! :) He doesn't like to swim, but he did it anyway. Autumn especially appreciated him doing so, because he played catch with her in the hot tub (pictured) and he hung out with her by the steps in the pool for a little bit. Thanks, Josh!

Like Brandon, I think Ethan looks kinda goofy in the picture ('course, his semi-broken goggle strap doesn't help), but I can also tell how much fun he was having.

Rylee and Krista swimming with Autumn; sometimes they're like 'little mommies' to their cousin... :)

Peter took this picture with his cell phone... That night, after a late dinner at Chili's, we drove (Wade and his kids followed us) to a parking lot sorta near the Stadium of Fire so we could watch its fireworks show. While we were waiting for it to start, we lit sparklers and some other stuff in the parking lot. I LOVE this picture of Autumn...! And just think--I used to be afraid of sparklers...