Fireworks Week

We celebrated America's Birthday "Bemus" style all week long.  That meant spending time with friends from out-of-town, boating, concerts on the floating stage, and hearing/ watching fireworks (that private residences shoot off) practically every night until the Grand Finale of them all.  Fireworks happen to be one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, and Chautauqua Lake always goes all out with them.  A day like 4th of July also reminds me how lucky I am to live in the USA, all thanks to my courageous parents, who I am eternally grateful to for the life I live today.   They wanted to give their daughters a life of opportunity and freedom.  Kind of like how Brad and I want to give our sons the best possible upbringing!

It was Jax's first 4th of July this year, and he made fireworks of his own. As in waking up and crying in the middle of night!! Make that waking up numerous times a night every night for the last 2 weeks.... and still going.  I don't know if he's uncomfortable in the pack n' play (he wakes up a lot on his belly or I find him sitting up and crying), or that he's sleeping in the same room as us and can "smell" my milk, but its bad.  I think its a combo of all that plus teething, plus being in a new environment.  This last month has been less than ideal, and one has no idea what sleep deprivation feels like unless you've walked in my shoes, or looked at the bags under my eyes! Its a good thing Jax is so cute! LOL

 Our first 4th of July as New York residents began with a big BANG, quite literally! We woke up to dark skies, major humidity, the rumbling of distant thunder, then within an hour loud cracking thunder and lightning, and then a 10 minute downpour.  And that's it.... the quickest tropical storm!  The rain drops didn't even have a chance to dry before the sun started shining full force.  The rest of the day was incredibly hot and steamy, perfect kind of weather for all day water play on the boats!

Taj loves to sit on the back of the boat and kick water, his favorite leisure hobby besides throwing rocks into the water!  (He also gets a kick out of Brad jumping in)

 If Chloe is Taj's idol in CA, then Harper (on left, in below photo) is his idol here in NY!  She is just 3 years older than him, and Taj will not stop talking about her and her sister Eliza.  Its so funny how wherever we live, Taj is 'da man! The older ladies are drawn to him!

Mommy stealing kisses and giggles from the important boys in her life....

We were out on the boats until nearly 7:30pm before heading back to the cottage to change, and meeting up with our friends again at the Dawes' home for a carnitas dinner and fireworks.  The local private fireworks started at 9 and went all night, while the big Bemus Village ones were on at 10pm.  Taj had a hard time eating his dinner, he was so amazed by the fireworks.  He would yell "Wow, that's Amazing!"  "There's another firework, and another!"  For the big Bemus Village fireworks we walked over to our friends' dock where all their boats were parked, and watched the show from the boat.  Its a tradition that every lakefront property on the lake lights up their red flare, so the entire lake is outlined in red (it lasts a couple of hours and if you were in a helicopter you would see the entire perimeter of the lake lit in red.) Its pretty cool, along with the various displays of fireworks from each neighboring lake town, but makes for a very smoky night (that's why the last photo of us as a family looks so smoky.)

Both boys stayed up until nearly 11:30pm, but special nights like these happen only once in a while.  I love how the boys just go with the flow, they are troopers and enjoy themselves.