Ah, sweet summertime. The smell of sunscreen, watching my babies splash in the swimming pool, cooking on the grill, and lots of sunshine! I love my job because it allows me to have the same time off as my kiddos. Before summer vacation started, I made a list of things I wanted to do with the kids before school starts in August and there are only a handful of things left to do! I am determined to knock those last few things off my list the last few weeks of summer vacation. It’s so hard to believe that in just a few weeks we will be shopping for school supplies and new school clothes.
One thing on my bucket list for the summer was to grill out with some friends and guys, we did just that! When I’m planning an event, Target is my go to. I snagged these cute (and patriotic) plates, cups, napkins, cutlery, and table cloth for under $12! The cupcake picks came from Hobby Lobby. They were too cute to pass up.

We grilled out with our friends Kandi and Chris and their three kiddos. Kylan and Kaleb are in the same grade at the same school and became good friends in second grade. Want to know why this is so cool? In 2007 one of my best friends was getting ready to have her first baby. You see where this is going? Kaleb was the cutest baby I had ever seen. When Kylan was born almost 5 months later, Kandi and Kaleb came to the hospital to see him. Kylan thinks it is so cool that his best friend came to the hospital when he was born and held him. After too many playdates to count- from birthday parties to zoo trips, to cheering each other on during baseball season to going out for ice cream, I’m sure these two will be getting into trouble together for a while.

We had burgers, hot dogs, chips, potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, baked beans, pie, cupcakes, and cookies. We had red and blue juice drinks for the kids, strawberry lemonade, and soda to drink.

We bought two packs of the self-sealing water balloons (which made 200 water balloons total) and the kids had a blast!

We had bubbles, chalk, and a bean bag toss game to keep the kiddos entertained. It all came from Target. Target hauls are my favorite.
After everyone ate and the kids played, we started a fire and roasted marshmallows and made s’mores!

Kandi and Chris brought the fun stuff. The kids loved the sparklers and fireworks!

On July 4^th we went to the Kingsport parade to see Kimberlee and Baylee riding on a float!

That evening it started to rain. To be cautious of firework cancelations, we decided just to drive 5 minutes to downtown Kingsport. We popped some popcorn, made each kid their own bag and took them each a juice box. The popcorn did not disappoint and kept them busy while we waited for the show to start. I like to avoid crowds as much as possible so we parked away from the downtown events. Guess what? We had the best spot in town!

On Tuesday we conquered the rainy weather, loaded up the kiddos, and went to a local waterpark.

You just can’t go wrong with good friends, grilled food, and swimming. I hope you guys had as much fun as we did this holiday. Happy 240^th birthday, America!