Hadlee's Heirlooms: Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

We have been on vacation for a little over a week now ~ so we were out on the island for the 4th this year. We invited some friends to come and explore the island with us before the big fireworks show. Ivy and I were beach combing while we were waiting for them to all arrive.

The first to arrive was our friend, DaisyRose! We were walking on the shoreline and came across a starfish. The girls were curious what it was and were both a bit nervous. I explained it to them and mentioned to Ivy that we could buy one at the pet store when we returned home from vacation and put it in our fish tank at home. We did that when we went to Hawaii last year, and ended up with a beautiful saltwater fish tank. Now, it's become tradition to bring home souvenir's or try to replicate some item from our vacation at home. Before we came across this little starfish we had seen something much, much bigger. A large crab! Both girls were terrified of it. They ran screaming and hid behind a bush until he crawled away. I didn't manage to get any pictures of him as I was too busy chasing him, and the girls!

Mommy, what's this?

The sun was starting to go down, so I figured we should work our way over to the boat for the fireworks. The girls were pretty anxious for the show, as was I. I love fireworks, they are so beautiful. We were still waiting on a few more people to come for the big show. Once we were fairly close to the dock, my niece Giselle showed up to join us! She even had on her pretty 4th of July dress!

Getting ready!

The fireworks were going to be shot off on the top of the waterfalls. I figured while we waited for it to become dark enough and for everyone to show up we would play with some sparklers I bought for the kids. They had such a blast running around on the boat with them and twirling them around. By now, my other niece Darla, and Ivy's friend, Elias showed up as well! We were ready for the big show!

Sparklers!

The time had come ~ the fireworks were going off! The show had begun! The boat was the perfect spot to watch them from. We still had a few sparklers left in the box, so they used them up as we watched the big show!

While the fireworks were going off we decided that going for a swim would be really fun. We could swim up closer to the falls and watch them from the water. There's no better way than to simply... jump off the boat!

The water was really warm that night, perfect for night swimming. The girls kept close to me, and I gave Ivy a little 'piggy back ride' in the water. It was really fun watching the fireworks from this point of view. It almost felt as if they were going to fall down on us. They were stunning!

The fireworks were still going on but it was starting to get a bit chilly outside. We decided to run to the pool and the hot tub - where the water was a little bit warmer!

The girls and I all relaxed in the hot tub and talked for hours. We chatted about summer camp ~ which was only days away at this point!

I thought after such fun we all deserved some smoothies with umbrella's! Ivy couldn't decide which kind she wanted and instructed me to 'bring all the 'brella drinks, Mommy!' So... I did. she managed to sip some off of each type of smoothie!

It was getting late and it was time to get Ivy into bed and my sleepy head to sleep! We said our goodbye's and made the walk to our little hut on the beach. We climbed into the hammock for some snuggles. We could still see the fireworks going off from our hut!