Happy 4th of July!

We had fun celebrating Independence Day despite the scorching-hot weather.  We began the day with waffles and strawberries, compliments of James, and then we headed over to our neighborhood's 4th of July parade.  It wasn't anything particularly exciting, but it was fun to watch, and I think Jesse enjoyed seeing all of the flags and hearing the bands play.  We took it easy in the afternoon and then joined some friends from our building for dinner at their place.  Since Jesse got a good nap and was doing well throughout the evening, we let him stay up WAY past his bedtime to go see fireworks.  We were able to see the Navy Pier fireworks show from the lakefront in Hyde Park.  On our walk back home we got a close-up fireworks show; people were setting off fireworks all over the place.  We felt as if we were walking through a war zone, and it definitely sounded like it with all of the sounds echoing between all the buildings.  We felt a little unsafe with the masses of people and all the fireworks being launched from the path we were walking on, but we made it home safely.  There was no shortage of fireworks around here; I heard them way into the wee hours of morning, as I laid in bed unable to sleep because of the oppressive heat.