4th of July

We drove north to my parents' place in Birch Bay on the 4th. This is the cute hand-me-down dress I dressed Edie in for the 4th (it is navy and white striped):

 This is what she was wearing approximately 1 minute after the above photo was taken:

 We drove all the way to Birch Bay with her wearing this ensemble.  She napped the entire way.  We got there in time for lunch at the cottage - mini burgers prepared by my Father who refused to make any other face than this when photographed:

 My patriotic child in red white and blue:

 My brother and sister in law (due in January):

 Scott and Emily drove their camper up and Edie was fascinated with the bunk beds and required everyone to cram into them more than once:

 Mini burgers with cheese:

 My parents:

 My Grandmother (or as Edie calls her "GGBee" for Great Grandma Bee - she and Edie share the same middle name of "Bee"):

 Low tide that afternoon:

 These photos are not flattering, but my Mom made me pose with my low-class, improvised version of an American flag cake.  The second one is particularly embarrassing, but at the same time makes me laugh really hard every time I look at it. Edie wanted to pose with me (she made the cake after all - I just frosted it) but wedged herself in between me and the cake in such a way that it tipped me over backwards and I almost dumped the entire cake in the process of trying to land gracefully.  Keeping my grip on the cake - check. Landing gracefully? Not so much.

 Hopefully my brother reads this blog, but this photo is JUST for him (his dog Kona wearing Edie's hat):

 Sparklers (they were mostly duds):

 I walked Edie down to the beach for fireworks with my brother and Emily (Jeff was reclining on the couch with a giant sack of frozen tater tots on his neck).  You wouldn't know it, but these were taken past 9pm:

The fireworks at the beach were OUT OF CONTROL.  Highschool boys everywhere, blowing up shit left and right.  We promptly got sand and gunpowder blown directly into our eyes and Edie was
d-o-n-e. I am 200% positive that at least one person lost a finger at Birch Bay that night. But by the time that probably happened, we were driving south to sleep at my parents' house.  Edie crashed hard on the way there and was easily undressed and tucked in without waking.  Jeff and his sore neck crawled into bed while I wasn't looking.  So I wrapped myself in a blanket and sat on the deck by myself and watched the 10:30pm Bellingham fireworks show.  It was actually pretty awesome - I really love fireworks and didn't mind all the booms that went late into the night.  It's just one night a year after all...