forth with july

july is always, always, always a hella-busy month in my family. we start out on the third with a night-party at my cousin's house; then the fourth, with a family reunion and fireworks. this year, we finished the long weekend off with a party on the fifth at my sis' house to celebrate the thirtieth birthday of my future brother in law.

even though this is the first summer that i have lived back in cleveland for a long time, i usually make it home for the fourth. i love my grandma, and love to see her and the rest of the family at the reunion. on top of it all, july is always a great time to make a cross-country trek, so there was always reason to come home.

i love the parties, and i love the reunion, but my fave part of the weekend this year was the fireworks. for the first time in both of their lives, jonas and penelope got to see the fireworks, and they both loved them. pretty crazy. i try to imagine what fireworks feel like to a little kid. a huge, sparkling, here-and-gone light-tastic phenomenon in the sky. jonas simply said, "i love green!" or whatever color happened to be splashed across the sky above. what surprised me the most was penelope. she just sat and stared in awe.