Happy Independence Day!

I love the 4th of July! I am a total patriot and I get so excited about the whole wonderful madness of city celebrations. We have a family tradition of watching the hot air balloon launch at America's Freedom Fest in Provo, UT. We pulled the kids out of bed at 5:20 AM to make it down in time. You can just choose a random spot on the field where they launch, but we by luck chose an awesome place and found ourselves surrounded by these beautiful balloons, feeling the warmth from fires on all sides. Wow! Bryce was totally excited and couldn't hold still. Dane was most interested in the Strawberry-looking balloon and the Lego catalog he brought along. Ella finally showed some interest when she saw they had a balloon that looked like a pink pig, pink being her favorite color.
We spent the rest of the afternoon by the city courthouse where they have the usual vendor fair of amazing food and local artisans. Dane and Ella had a great time making crafts in the Children's Art area. Ella's Self-Portait with Pink Rice and Macaroni is my favorite of the day, but Dane did quite a great job with marbles and acrylic paint on paper.