Our 4th...

The 4th of July in our house is more special than it probably is in yours because it's also Ryan's birthday! This year he turned 25...old man!
Ryan and I celebrated his b-day the night before by getting a babysitter and going to a movie, then dessert afterward. It's nice to have a special reason to get out! Skylee had lots of fun with the sitter and we took Parker, thankfully he slept the whole time!
Since it's his b-day, he gets to decide what we do every year on the fourth, which I kinda don't like :) We let him sleep in a little while we blew up balloons and made a breakfast of an omelet, bacon and fresh fruit. I spent the morning baking the cake, and other goodies(those hamburgers in the slideshow above. They kida look more like sloppy joes!). Once we were all dressed, we headed to Crooked River State Park, here in nearby St. Mary's GA. We had a nice little picnic, Skylee played on the playground, then we found a little beach. We really wished we would have known about the beach part, we would have come prepared. Skylee dove right in and got filthy in the sand and couldn't resist going in the water. Parker was having a rough day so he and I stayed in the shade and took the pictures. Ryan brought his fishing pole and even caught a little fish (actually his first one!) We tried to use it as bait, but didn't have as much luck with that. It was a really nice day, and we're planning on going back prepared next time, we look forward to having more fun there.
When we finally made it back home, we fired up the BBQ and had ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, and a fruit salad. That's what the birthday boy requested, and it turned out delicious! He also wanted a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate frosting (one of the many reasons I married him), he blew out all 25 candles and then we went in our yard to let off our own fireworks. Ryan's not a big fan of big crowds, especially with two very tired little kids, so we didn't go to the big show. Having them at home was a lot of fun, Skylee loved holding the sparklers. We had such a nice family day, a little late but...HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN. And Happy Birthday AMERICA!