Happy 4th of July!

How is it possible that the 4th of July has already come and gone? This year is flying by!
We spent the weekend in Medford, but since the 4th landed on a Monday we ended up spending much of the holiday in the car driving back home. By the time we made it back home, we had just enough time to unpack, bathe Aspen/me, pick up food at Fred Meyer and head over to Matt's old neighborhood for a potluck BBQ/firework show. Whew - busy day!
We've been friends with Matt for a couple years now, but have never been in town for his firework show. Apparently it's a long standing tradition and we were certainly not let down!

We arrived over there around 6:30 and the party had already gotten started. The neighbors were out and there were a TON of cars parked in the neighborhood, so it was evident that a lot of people had come from wherever they live to be part of this. We ate dinner - Aspen LOVED the raw bell peppers. Someone had cut up a red, yellow, and orange pepper on the veggie plate they brought and I'm quite certain Aspen ate all three peppers herself. I've given her red peppers before and she's always gobbled them up. I'm thrilled that I have a kid who loves her veggies - I will never complain about having to buy produce for her!We started sparklers as it started getting dark. Aspen had done sparklers at my mom's house over the weekend, so she was all for it. It was really fun to see all the kids running around being so excited for fireworks. There was definitely a lot of excitement and anticipation in the air! While the kids were doing sparklers, everyone else cleaned up the food/tables and such to clear out the culdesac and Matt and some of the guys got the first round of the show set up.
Since this is Aspen's first experience with fireworks being so close, we weren't sure how she'd deal with the noise. We had muffs for her, which she wore for a little bit, but ultimately decided she didn't want them. There were a few times I thought she NEEDED them, but she would just get mad and assert her independence, so we ended up leaving them off most of the night. The show was great! Matt and his neighbors did a fantastic job! In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it is better than most of the 4th of July displays we've seen in the past.
Aspen was a total champ the entire time! She got a little crabby toward the end, but as long as kept the carrots coming (I am SUCH a lucky mom!) and the fireworks going, she was good to go. We ended up leaving around 11:30 and getting home by midnight - baby girl fast asleep in the car!