Our 4th of July

Our 4th of July was a nice one. Relatively low key during the day. We BBQed with just our family, as all those we know here were already busy with other plans. Loving Husband enjoyed experimenting with various flavoring techniques on the burgers, no two alike. :) They were yummy. I made some tasty red, white, and blue strawberries an inspiration from Pinterest to take with us to the beach, but then forgot to.

I did a mini photoshoot with the kids in their 4th of July gear. This year Ace didn't have any '4th of July' specific garb, but he enjoyed his red Toy Story shirt with American pride just the same. ;-) Mae's outfit came from Grammie and she was just darling in it and kept it clean the whole day! Yipee!

Around 7:30 we convoyed closer to the base gate with the neighbors and parked the car and walked to the beach. We set up camp near a sand dune (which later worked out perfectly for the tripod and grabbing firework shots above the masses.) The weather was perfect. It was in the low 80s (maybe even dipped into the 70s) there was a tiny tiny breeze and what felt like no humidity at all. It was a perfect night.

This was Mae's first 4th of July and it's always a question mark on how little ones will react to all the loud booms and bangs that are surrounding this holiday... let me say though she did amazing! When we got to the beach I plopt her sitting self down on the beach blanket and handed her a toy. She sat there for over an hour just happily playing, looking around, watching the fireworks. She never once cried from being scared. She did fuss in protest when the main show was about to begin when I put her in the Ergo - mostly because she was too dern hot in there - once I took her out and just held her she was fine. She never once needed to comfort nurse and she was a gem for our three hour outting.


Now what about Ace? We were a bit curious how he would react with all the loud booms and cracks too since he's had issue with loud noises - we did bring ear plugs but he didn't need them, after he figured out what the noise was he was super excited to see them. He loved to run around the beach near us and bury himself in the sand. He seriously laid in the sand and just rolled around all night long. In fact upon coming home he required a shower before bed he was that sandy.

This year we didn't purchase our own fireworks - it was iffy on if they'd be allowed since there are burn bans in all counties, but as it worked out they were allowed on the beach only - so we had LOTS of great fireworks to see all around us. Loving Husband acquired a sparkler from a woman and he and Ace went off to light it. Ace got to hold it all by himself this year and was waving that thing around like crazy! So crazy that he even singed his dad's leg, just a bit. ;-) Ace to sum it up had a BLAST! I'm so glad he didn't let his noise fear cloud is fun. We were so proud of him!

I was a bit anti-social, I'll admit. I had researched ahead of time and really wanted to try out all the various methods of capturing fireworks. I'll do a separate post on those, but this is my favorite shot. :)

18-135mm lens, zoomed to 57mm, 2 second shutter speed, f/13, ISO 100

Overall a great 4th of July in the South! We had a good time, weren't too hot, and didn't have any issues with crowds or war zone like conditions on the beach.