The Nichols: Fourth of July and a Visit from Auntie Amy

Five out of the last six years we have been lucky enough to have Auntie Amy visit us for the Fourth of July. She came with fun decorations for the house and festive sunglasses that the boys loved.

Owen loved spending time with Auntie Amy and even tucked himself into her bed to spend time with her one morning.

Amy and I had fun doing selfies with Mary. Mary loves seeing herself in the camera, so you can usually get the best smiles out of her during a selfie.

Jonathan and I don't seem to get into very many pictures, Jonathan especially, but Amy captured us in a few.

Owen was out and about sporting his festive glasses at the park even when it wasn't the actual holiday.

We read a lot of reviews about fireworks in our area saying that it took an hour and a half or more to get home afterwards, and the shows wouldn't even end until about 11pm. We decided it was best for everyone's sanity to do fireworks on our own. Oklahomans are very big on setting off fireworks at their own homes we found. We purchased a smaller package of fireworks that Jonathan set off in front of our driveway. It was fun to just sit in our driveway and watch Jonathan play with fire :). The people around us must have spent a pretty penny on fireworks, because there were some huge displays going off all around us from neighboring houses. Some of them looked professional grade. We ended up getting a pretty good show from our own purchases and our neighbors without having to leave the comfort of our home, and our children only went to bed about an hour later than normal…I'll call that a success!

We also had a great time bowling while Auntie Amy was in town. It was the boys' first time, and they were mesmerized by all the lights initially. They got to use this little dinosaur tail to roll their ball, and the bumpers came up when it was their turn. They both got a great workout carrying their ball to the lane, and they insisted that no one help them.

Once the holiday weekend was over, Amy stayed at our house the next week but had to work (she works remotely) most of each day. We got to visit with her in the evenings and at meals, but we were back to our normal routine overall. Jack takes an art class each Wednesday this summer for an hour, so Owen, Mary, and I usually go to the grocery store during that time. Here's Mary's first experience in the car cart. She had a lot of fun!