July 4th (Day 2)

Eeks, time went fast! 

Saturday, July 5th, everyone was invited to our house for the day. A few cousins 3 miles away were the first ones to arrive. After a bit of talking and messing around on instruments, it became water balloon fill-up time!

Brianna was helping fill some with the personal squinter water bottle.

I bet the boys were happy Mom had invited them to swim that day. 

They sure had fun!

Our cousin Annie from FL spent the night at the Bray's so she got to be there for the Saturday party as well. She really enjoyed getting to hold the chickens.

Laurisa was helping little Bella and Lilia fill up water balloons..

and then they put them in the wheel barrow.

Pretty soon they were filling them all by themselves!

They were both very proud of their balloons!

Before long, they kept running to show their dad each one they did..

And anyone else that would look at their handiwork.

Then came the run back to put it in with the others after it had been daddy-approved. ;)

Esther had ordered some Venus fly traps a few months ago and was showing them to Hannah. Those plants are always cool to look at!

An uncle had brought a game over so he explained the rules to a few of his brothers before playing a few games together.

I don't remember the name of it, but it was similar to corn hole, in a way..and you could use either bags or rings to play.

After a funny story about one of my 2 year old cousins dropping his parent's iPhone in the toilet.. (yeah, doesn't sound so funny, does it) we prayed over the meal..

and ate some more delicious food! :)

There were plenty of left overs from the day before to the point there was still some left over after this gathering.

After a mini water balloon ambush from my brother while I was eating, Timothy, Esther, and myself decided to try our hand at the game aforementioned.

Esther kept missing the goal, so she thought she might have better luck if she tried to ring with her eyes shut. xD

And then it was my turn to play with Timothy. We didn't do too badly for a first time.

The rope swing is always a bit hit with the kids and teenagers when people come over to visit

This is pretty much what the grown-ups did all day..so if I don't say too much else about them, this is why. They just..sat and talked. ;)

Though...the little girls kept throwing water balloons they filled at their parents..so one's daddy came after her for revenge. ;)

Then Uncle Sam beamed Uncle Michael with a water balloon...and a small battle ensued. ;)

Sam had jumped up from his chair and backed behind his brother while Michael went after him with the same spray pump he had used on his little girl. It drew nearly everyone's attention and was quite amusing. xD

Sam ended up having to rescue his bullhorn. (Those things are so fun.)

After that had finished, Esther, Timothy, Laurisa, and I went to shoot off bottle rockets in the water (hilarious. it cracks me up the way they "swim" under water with bubbles and all that.), and then that led to blowing up ant hills with black cats..(THAT I found thoroughly enjoyable as I am always getting bit it seems..it was time for...revenge. *sunglasses*)

to shooting some out a pipe towards the woods.

Lilia got pushed for a good bit on the rope swing, which she, like all the kids, enjoy.

Taking turns..

Someone was having fun being free... ;) When he notice me with the camera it got really funny because he started acting a little shy, but still wanting to show off his underclothes at the same time! :P It was just too cute to not take a picture of.

Looks like Hannah and Esther were ready for...

a water balloon fight!

That's just what we did. xD We had some very fun..water balloon tosses. ;)

Unfortunately, mom got stuck being life guard for part of the day..which is a bummer since the pool is away from the rest of the family.

Isn't Bella beautiful? So photogenic

Towards the evening, Timothy and Esther were chillaxing on the vball court, waiting for the net to grow legs and walk over to them..

I had grown legs ages ago, so I helped the net along. ;)

And, Hannah-to-the-rescue brought us the ladder! 

It wasn't long before the net was up and ready to go!

Before that, Timothy's sister Hannah, decided to "grow" grass in her brother's hair..

She did a good job of camouflaging it, if you ask me. ;)

Jeremiah and Gabriel kicked the volleyball around a few minutes until we were ready to play.
We played 2-3  games together, then as it got dark, shot off more fireworks. That turned..interesting when a roman candle fell on it's side after it was lit, aimed at Laurisa. O.O
(Good news: Nobody got hurt..they all went screaming up the hill as it fired the last shots.)

We had a very fun 4th of July holiday this year, and I hope you did as well. I'd love to here what you did, so please let me know below in the comments!