4th of july

i begged, pleaded, batted my eyes...
ok, i sweared a little.
OK!
a lot ;)
and got craig to take the day off from work.
we took off for the beach and after finally finding somewhere to park,
a trolley ride
and more traffic we landed at the beach.
it was worth all the trouble...
oh definitely.

there were loads of these disgusting creatures flying overhead. i held my breath and prayed each time that poop wouldn't land on my head. it would be just like me to be the only gal on the beach to get hit. oh so lucky i did not! he actually looks pretty cute in this shot.

the water was not so bad...if you're a kid. as i get older the water gets colder. it needs to be a heck of a lot warmer for me to get all the way in!

stella was digging for china. she came up empty but had fun making mud pies, mud cupcakes, mud, mud, mud.

i tried reading...i'm having a very hard time getting into this book. i keep hearing 'stick with it, it'll get better'...ok. well, i'm halfway through and i'm still not seeing the light. i hate that. i need to be completely drawn into a book to keep me interested.

after the beach we needed ice cream. that's right. we needed ice cream. i feel like ice cream is a must after a long day at the beach. this place was cute and fit the bill.

it was a bit of a wait because there was only one guy working on this perfect beach day on the fourth of july in this popular vacation town...wtf? finally. craig got orange(yuck), stella got vanilla, ruby coffee, zoe peanut butter cup and i got mint chocolate chip. delish.

after a quick dinner at home we went for a walk...the sky was insanely beautiful. see the bat above...i swear he was going to snatch the flower out of my hair!!! he came so close!

got back from our walk and drove three minutes down the road to my favorite field and this is what we saw...breathtaking isn't it?

and then not ten minutes later the fireworks began...it was spectacular.