Kelly and I had a few friends over for the 4th of July. It was the first one at our house. We had a great idea and decided to BBQ outside in our backyard. We spent the morning getting it setup and cleaning. Then on my way back from the store around 4 in the afternoon, I noticed that our whole neighborhood was setting up tables and BBQs in their front yards. There were even a few bounce castles. Not wanting to be the Scrooge of the neighborhood we decided to move our picnic table in the front yard. Boy was that a good move. In Costa Mesa, fireworks are legal so there are huge block parties everywhere and there were so many fireworks going off that you did not know where to look. Then we were able to watch the big fireworks from our front yard. Our dogs even came out to watch the show. As you can see, Kelly and I were making Ice cream and even Lauren got into the patriotic spirit with her red scarf.