Slade's very first July 4th!!!

Yesterday was the day after my moms birthday AND my newest little love, Paxton's birthday! Which means...

It was July 4th!

And not just any July 4th...

Slade's very FIRST July 4th!!!

Rewind to July 4, 2010:

Last July 4th was horrible. I was about 11 weeks pregnant, feeling sick, emotional, hot, and grouchy. My sister and her husband, Todd were in town visiting me in my third floor, tiny apartment that I shared with someone I hadn't even been friends with since 9th grade. It was burning hot and all the tourists were blocking the roads and storming our beaches (as usual around this time of year). Dane wanted to go to Masonboro and I did too, but it's not really the place for a pregnant girl. We ended up getting in a huge fight about it. After calling one of my friends (who was clearly under the influence) to vent and see what she was up to, I found out she was at Masonboro too and I was crushed. None of my friends cared about me anymore! I cried a lot that day, and I can honestly say it was the worst day I had during my entire pregnancy.

Fast forward to a year later:

I wanted to experience Masonboro with my friends. Dane wasn't up for it since he's been a bunch of times. Not only that, but we have a 5 month old and it's not really that easy to just drop your child off with people and go spend the entire day drinking and raging. Dane said I could go without him (how sweet!) but I didn't want to go if he wasn't. I finally came to terms that it would have to be experienced another year.

Instead we spend the day out by his dads backyard pool, grilling out and spending the day relaxing. I'm glad we spend it like that! Slade even went swimming underwater which he was not a fan of. We also took Slade downtown on the river to see the fireworks and he absolutely loved them! He didn't cry once. It was probably one of the best days I've had since Slade was born :) Below is a video of Slade's very first fireworks!!! Enjoy!