The fun on the 4th

I hope you had a Happy 4th!

Joy and I made these salted caramel chocolate cupcakes and they did not disappoint.

We tried the July 4th Seder, and loved it. 
It had us listening to a recap of our country's founding, asking questions about why America is different from other nations and remembering the ideals she was founded on. 

We drank tea in honor of the Boston Tea Party, 

ate something salty in honor of the tears shed by those whose loved ones died for our country,

 ate things that were red, white, and blue in honor of the flag, 

signed our own copy of the Declaration,

 and sang God Bless America!  Fun!

Then we ATE and we had pulled pork BBQ sandwiches (made in the crock pot! -EASY) with coleslaw,  BBQ beans and corn on the cob. -But I secretly think I could have served my family styrofoam with BBQ sauce on it and they might not have noticed, they were that hungry. ; ) 

Next we watched The Patriot 

(except that we skipped the really SAD parts and I closed my eyes in most of the battles) and felt very proud to be Americans.

                                              We had friends over for dessert,
 and then we all drove to the airport to watch the fireworks from the roof of the 9 story parking garage.
                                               Kind of weird, I know.
Our friend from California laughed at us, but then he realized that we don't have any mountains to go watch them from, so a 'cement mountain' is the best you can do in Florida! And you couldn't beat the VIEW!
We saw about 20 fireworks shows at once going off all over the city, just from the side we were standing on.                       Really amazing, especially when it came time for all those finales!

 -Hubby and I have one issue we've never agreed on in our married life and that is fireworks on the fourth. He doesn't want to go fight the crowds, get stuck in tons of traffic on a bridge coming back from the beach, then get home late when he has to be up at 5:00 AM the next day.... And I always DO want to do those things...
probably because I don't have to get up at 5:00 AM, right? ; )
So, we've decided that the airport is now going to be our happy compromise every year. It was fun, close to our house and there was no traffic. (not to mention free, if you stay for less than one hour)

It was a fun, patriotic day,
~Becky
As always, sorry for the crazy dates on our pictures.