Fourth of July

Here is Charlie, in his Abercrombie July Fourth pose. It's an unfair shot, because he is such a happy chap, but he didn't appreciate the sparklers very much. Or maybe he wasn't keen on putting his clothes back on after playing naked in the hose.

Maddie, practicing for her first rock concert, and Will, unleashing his inner pyromaniac.

Maddie was a great big sister and cousin, playing in the water fight and jumping on the trampoline.

Jeff is armed with the super soaker for the great water fight in the backyard. It was all fun and good for the lawn (which was dead after our ten day trip to California, second year in a row) until Rob tried to douse Jeff, who dodged the water, and ended up getting Hazel instead. She let out the Mighty Hazel Roar which was well justified, if you ask me.

Here is that petite flower Hazel before she got wet. She was charming, and then she got a fever (presumably not because Uncle Rob dumped water on her, though I'm sure it didn't help), so she was snuggly too.

So here is an action shot of the water fight. Will gets it, and you can see Hazel walking up behind Jeff, never suspecting that he is the target of wet misery to come . . .

And you can also get an eyeful of the dead lawn. Rob is nursing it tenderly.

And finally, Sebastian, holding his sparkler and Cal Berkeley football. Saydi showed me how to use some of the special features on Picasa while she was here. Now I'm trying to figure out how to upload them to the blog in the order I want! In the meantime I am learning a lot. The football was Sebastian's loot from our trip to campus, and the site of a bad parenting moment we can talk about another time.