When I think of Independence Day, I think of freedom, family, food, and fun.  I know that my family and I experienced all of these great things during this years Fourth of July festivities.

We started the day congregating at Amy's Aunt Joan's wonderful pool.

One of the main reasons we made the long trip up to Shreveport from Houston for Independence Day was so that William and Audrey could spend time with their cousins.  William and Audrey really had a great time playing with them.

Cousins Swimming in the Pool

Group of Children Swimming in Pool

Ella, one of the twin's cousins, is only four years old and already a very good swimmer.  She was also very fearless when going head first down the whale pool slide.

Little Girl Sliding Down a Water Slide	Little Girl Splashing Into the Pool
Little Girl Splashing Into the Pool SPLASH!!!

Luckily, Aunt Joan stocked the pool full of fish so that the kids could go fishing.  As these photographs show, Grant Adams caught a John David fish, a very frequent fish in these parts.  I think Grant Adams released him back into the pool.

Portrait of Boy Fishing in the Pool

Little Boy Pretending to be a Fish

Everyone took part in cooking food and bringing their delicious creations to the party.  I know that I over ate!  (I was not the only one!)  But it was SO good!  Jill and Jan performed an outstanding job helping to fix all of the wonderful food and setting up the food for everyone to eat.

Woman Throwing Boy into the Pool Mallory tossing John David into the pool	Woman Throwing Boy into the Pool Mallory next tossed Grant Adams into the pool
Boy Throwing Woman into the Pool But John David got the last laugh as he tossed Mallory, fully clothed, into the pool

But of course, the highlight of the entire day for the kids was the pool.  Annie, Addison, and their friends helped to make sure the water was safe for all of the little ones.

Little Girl Next to the Pool	Little Girl with Floaties Swimming in Pool
Little Boy Posing Next to the Pool	Little Boy Smiling in Swimming Pool
Blue Eyed Boy in Swimming Pool	Portrait of Smiling Boy in Swimming Pool
Portrait of Smiling Boy in Swimming Pool	Smiling Girl Smiling Up at Camera
Portrait of Smiling Girl in Swimming Pool	Girl Jumping into the Pool
Girl Smiling in Pool
Video of Boys Jumping into the Pool
Toy Shark Floating in Pool Luckily, everyone had a lot of fun and the only casualty was this poor shark!

The Keck family would like to thank Aunt Joan for including us in this party.  I know the twins really enjoyed themselves as they talked about it all weekend.

After the pool party, the Keck family went to downtown Shreveport to watch the fireworks at the top of the parking garage.

Some tips on taking photographs of fireworks is to do the following:

• Have a tripod,
• Set the lens on manual focus and on infinite
• Set the aperture to about an f/16
• Set the shutter speed to greater than 3 seconds (I shot these photos from 6 to 30 seconds)
• Set the ISO very low (100-200) so that there is minimal grain in the photos
• Use a remote shutter release trigger or the camera's shutter timer to eliminate any shake in the photos that pushing the camera's shutter button would create

Fourth of July Fireworks	Fourth of July Fireworks
Fourth of July Fireworks	Fourth of July Fireworks

So, what are you thoughts?  Please leave a comment (or two) below!  Thanks!