I hope that everyone had a good 4th of July holiday yesterday. Ours was pretty good. It was a little rainier than I would have liked, but that also made it cooler, and I would take that over hot and sticky any day.
Our brave neighbors invited us to join them at their primo spot for the parade. They even went early to save us a seat (and later gave us copies of the pictures below). We had a good time, and even got to see our friend AC in the parade. The kids were pretty good. Drew sat in one of the lawn chairs and barely moved a muscle for an hour! Lauren hung out with Grammy most of the time and was very well behaved. Jack was pretty squirmy, but he stayed by me most of the time. Alyssa sat on the curb with our neighbor and Daddy. So we actually got to enjoy the parade a bit with all the help we had. (We are big believers in divide and conquer.) We also ended up sitting in front of a friend of mine from high school that I haven't seen in years, but, ironically, I had just found on Facebook recently.
The kids had fun watching the clowns, bands, floats, and cheerleaders. Jack got really excited by the dog mascot from our local NBA team. Lauren repeated everything Grammy pointed out to her. And Drew was in heaven when he got a ball from one of the floats at the end. Alyssa gave us one scare as she tried to run into the street to catch some bubbles. She also got to "high five" one of the Uncle Sams on stilts. We also let the kids have suckers, which the little guys had only had one other time. I know, we were really wild that day!
We were in the hometown of Dave's students, so he had fun heckling the ones he knew in the parade (especially the ones in the band.. "Don't laugh!" "Don't smile.") My favorite part was the way that we got to honor the veterans who marched in the parade. We wouldn't have even been there to celebrate if it weren't for their sacrifice! As they marched down the street and the crowd rose to its feet to applaud and honor them, I got goosebumps seeing these brave, humble servants get choked up. I'm sure some of them have seen horrors that have aged them beyond their years. Yet, you could tell they were clearly moved and had trouble controlling the emotion they were feeling. I really hope that we able to instill in our kids a strong sense of respect for our veterans. After all, they deserve it!
Towards the end of the parade, it started raining pretty hard. We huddled under our umbrellas for a bit. The we decided to make a run for it. It would have been a nightmare if we hadn't had so much help. Going with neighbors also took the pressure off of sorting things right then and there, too.
Before she left, Grammy gave us a surprise she had made us - patriotic shoes. Alyssa absolutely loved them, and it almost seemed like she cared more about the shoes than the parade. Lauren, Drew, and Jack got little crocs and she got flip flops with flowers on them. As you can see from the pictures, she put them on her siblings feet and everything.
Later, after naptime, we took the kids to a park that they had never been to before. It was great, too, because we had the whole place to ourselves. They squealed when we first got there and ran all over the place. It was just a great day to celebrate being with our family and enjoying all the wonderful things about living in our country.
After dinner, we put Lauren, Drew and Jack to bed and Alyssa and Dave went to see fireworks. Those of you who have young kids know that there are 2 things that make it tough this time of year to get your kids get to sleep at night. One is Daylight Savings Time (it doesn't get dark until 10pm!). The other is the whole week + of fireworks every night. Really, do we have to boom and bang that long to celebrate? And how is lighting something that just makes a loud noise fun? I know, I am becoming the Scrooge of Independence Day. Bah humbang!
Well, after Dave left, Lauren woke up screaming about the time that the fireworks show started (which meant it would be a while before he got home). This is a problem when you aren't supposed to pick up a child from a crib for 3 more weeks. Thankfully, she let me calm her down in the crib and then she laid down after a little while and eventually went to sleep. But, 20 minutes later, Jack woke up screaming. But, before I got to him, he went back to sleep. I don't blame the little guys for being scared. But I was scared, too, when they woke up! I didn't know what I was going to do! Thank God, it all turned out ok.
Meanwhile, as Dave was driving Alyssa to the fireworks (that started after her bedtime) she fell asleep in the car. Then she got a little bored waiting to see them to start (you have to get there early to get a good seat, you know). Then about 15 minutes into the show, she said, "Daddy, I'm tired. Let's go home." So off they went to beat the traffic. At least they got to see the grand finale in the car before they made it too far. And that's how Alyssa's first time of seeing fireworks went.
Here's some pictures of our day. I hope that you had a good one, too!
May God continue to bless America!
Amanda
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