4th of July

We had an awesome 4th of July!  We live in the best neighborhood ever and everyone kicks in some money and we have a fireworks show that rivals the big ones put on by the nearby cities!

We also bought our annual fireworks kit from our cute neighbor who sells them to raise money for her dance team.  We always have fun lighting them off in the backyard and seeing what we can do with sparklers.

In the past I have used my fancy Nikon camera to catch long exposure shots of sparkler art, but it requires a tripod and I am missing a piece, so this year, I got my cell phone tripod and messed with my camera settings to see what my phone can do, and it turns out, that works pretty great too!

We decided to try using a long shutter speed on the night sky to see if we could get a good view of the stars and it was also pretty cool!

And after 2 or 3 years in a row of having a broken boat over the 4th of July, we finally have a working boat again!  It was Heaven.

The boat parade is always a lot of fun to watch!

There is no better place to be on the 4th of July than on the lake with hundreds of other boats all lit up watching the sun set and the fireworks going overhead.

I can honestly say that the parade around Bill's Island is also our favorite parade of the year.  There aren't many big fancy floats, but it is right next to the cabin, is short, and provides lots of candy!

We love Island Park during the 4th of July.  It has become one of our favorite family traditions!