July 4th Festivities

Whew!  What a day!

Our July 4th celebration actually started with a trip to the Bass Pro Shop for David's birthday, which is coming up in a few days.  I won't pretend that I know what properties make for a good tackle box, and I certainly have no idea why fish will bite neon rubber worms, so I wasn't about to stock a new tackle box for David single-handed.  Instead, for his birthday we went down to Bass Pro as a family and David, with the assistance of the expert staff as well as our own mini-helpers, outfitted his new tackle box.  Turns out this store is GINORMOUS.  It had numerous aquariums, tons of stuffed animals (and I don't mean Ty beanie babies), including a bear, a number of deer, and quite a few birds hanging from the ceiling.

This sign at the entrance, while not a joke, made me laugh.  They're not just worried about guns, people... please also check your bows at customer service.

There was a water fall and a bridge over a small "river" within the store, and a small stocked pond just outside the store, I guess for trying out new gear.  2012 seems to be "the year of the hobbies" for our family, as I've recently picked up photography, and David's gotten quite into salt water fishing recently and has a few day trips planned for the summer.

First stop was the aquarium.

Then we hit the fishing area, and the kids  "helped" Daddy pick out his lures.

I'm pretty sure David ended up with some things in his basket he hadn't intended to.  

When the kids tired of looking at lures, we checked out more fish,

 then we wandered over to ride the ATV's.   

Quick photo shoot with the bear, then we checked out and headed over to the home of our friends the Barrs for a wonderful brisket lunch.  Soooooo, yummy.  But I got lost in catching up with friends and feeding the munchkins, and totally forgot to catch any pictures of the lovely lunch.

Family naptime was after lunch, then off to visit more friends.  We're so sad our German friends the Kuchs are headed back to Germany after 9 years of friendship here in Houston, but we really enjoyed a chance that evening to spend a little more time with them and the Doolittles.

Abby hovered around the chip and condiment table while Matthias worked the grill.  

Wish this photo of the Doolittles were sharper, but I love it for their smiles.

The kids greatly enjoyed their picnic, then got busy playing.

This little guy puts on quite a serious face but is really such a sweetie.  

While the kids played in the sandbox, water, and trampoline, we got some time to visit.

  Hope you had a Happy 4th!