"Happy Birthday America"

A 4th of July children's book called 'The Story of America's Birthday' caught my eye at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago. I've been reading the book to Dylan every night this past week to help me explain to him the importance of this holiday. I found myself getting emotional a couple of the nights as I talked to him about what a blessing it is to live in America and how great it will be to celebrate 'America's Birthday' on the 4th of July. I also explained to him that the reason we made our 4th of July cupcakes in the shape of a star was for the stars on our American Flag. We enjoyed a great 4th of July holiday together as a family, celebrating our freedom, because of the privilege we have of living in this wonderful country, and honoring those who have sacrificed on our behalf.


Dylan was so happy to finally enjoy one of our 4th of July cupcakes. I made an exception and let him eat one right after breakfast, hence the fact that he is still in his Spiderman pj's. :)

We spent the day at our favorite beach. The weather was perfect, and even though it was super crowded we had a great time...

Little Bros

Just chillin'...

The boys diggin' a tunnel with Dad for

the monster truck to drive through. :)

I absolutely love candid pics of Dave with the boys, especially in black and white. This explains the following little series of 'Dave with Connor' pics...

































Cute shots of Dylio...

~I think this takes the
'Cutest Candid of the Day' Award~

Then we headed home to clean up and have dinner before the fireworks. Dylan began a hot dog obsession a few weeks ago (I think it started with a Costco dog), so needless to say he was too excited for Dad to que up some dogs...and have another cupcake of course.

We headed back down to 'T Street' to watch some fireworks from the sand; the fireworks are shot off the San Clemente Pier. The boys were giddy, it was hilarious. Dylan knew what to expect, and Connor loves to be where the action is so he was completely in his element. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start, we kept taking silly pics of each other. Our little photog, Dylan, took some of the shots...