4th of July

It's hard to tell who enjoyed the holiday more...

...this little boy:

...or this little boy:



All I can really be sure of is that as Gabe gets older, I should probably never let these two go to buy fireworks without either a chaperone or a very strict budget in place.

The little girls across the street shared some of their super-sized sparklers with Gabe:

...and he was a little disconcerted when Bret took his new car and lit it on fire.  But once he saw it zoom off
and flip over, he thought it was pretty cool.

Lately Gabe has been giving me this response when I first ask him to smile for a picture:

I think it must be the beginning phase of that fake smile that kids start to do when you say "Say Cheese!" and they look back at you with a sort of forced grimace that they think is the picture smile you want but really it just looks like you're making them eat brussel sprouts.  Luckily I can still manage to get a couple good ones out of him -

...especially if Bret's making him laugh.