Happy Independence Day!

We had a wonderful Fourth of July. The botanical gardens here is free admission today, so we showed up at opening time. In addition to the beautiful flowers and plants, they have a lot of kid-oriented things to do. We walked up into the big treehouse with great views, and then went to the splash fountains. Matthew couldn't have been happier -- he loved playing in the water! James played in it a bit, but was more excited about the drinking fountain, and Daniel didn't really like getting water in his face. We met up with some friends of Nora and Adrian's, too. They brought some cupcakes from their daughter's birthday, and those were another big hit with Mattie!

After the water play, we went and fed the fish. By then it was about noon and hot, so we were all happy to head home again and relax.

Thunderstorms have rolled in this evening, which I'm sure is a disappointment for the fireworks crowd -- but since that's past bedtime for the boys, we would have missed it anyhow.