Monday, July 8, 2013

Fourth of July Weekend, Part 1

Rob had a four day weekend for the 4th of July so we planned some family activities.  And we had an absolute ball!  Overall the kids were well-behaved and were their usual bundles of energy and excitement for each event.

On the 4th we planned to attend Watertown's parade and see the fireworks later.  What we didn't plan for is Anna to be so tired that morning!  She got up when her brothers did, went downstairs, and fell back asleep on the couch.  We managed to rouse her for breakfast, where she sat starting for a few minutes in between each bite of oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries.  Rob made her drink a very small cup of coffee to try to wake her up.  Didn't work--she went right back to the couch!  We tried to figure out alternate plans, which involved just the three guys going to the parade.  Eventually Anna's desire to see the parade won out and we all went.  Rob had not set out chairs the night before (Main St was already full when he got home from work) so we did our best to squeeze our family into the huge crowd.  We sat outside of a bank and the kids found some nice people who let them sit on the curb.  Not ideal because I like to enjoy the parade WITH my kids, but at least we found seats.  The bank gave out free popcorn and freeze pops, so the kids had snacks and drinks (thus thwarting Rob and I's evil plot to NOT bring food and drink thereby hoping to leave the parade early!)  The parade was wonderful, as usual, and we did have kids coming back to see us off and on so it was enjoyable.  But hot, so this fibro mama had to leave after an hour and a half.  We had seen about everything we wanted to see (including one of our babysitters who performed with the dance team) so the kids were not at all disappointed to leave early. 

We got home to our lunch already done (mac 'n cheese in the crockpot) and let the kids run around outside with waterguns.  Rob and I really did not want to hit the pool as it would be extremely busy, so waterguns were a close second :)  We all lazed around in the afternoon and took a brief shopping trip to buy a hat for Matthew.  And other things, because one simply does not go into Walmart without picking up at least 10 more items. 

Supper was biscuits and gravy with strawberry jello salad for dessert (the kind with pretzels, yum!) and then we went outside at dusk to catch fireflies.  Ben is our bravest bug collector, so he caught on real quick.  Matt was great at hunting....but didn't really like to touch them.  Anna would get close, touch it, squeal, and then bounce.  So thankful I got that on video!  We came back in for a snack, then went out to our front yard to enjoy the fireworks.  Two other neighboring towns had their displays slightly before ours and we could see both!  Then when Watertown's display started we moved to the pizza place next door to see better.  It was a pretty good spot, but I think we might do better next year to move down to a park right on the water.  It was Anna's very first fireworks display and she clapped after each one.  We just really enjoyed the togetherness of our little family.  The kids were asleep that night when their heads hit the pillow!

We kept Friday pretty low key since our big day was on Saturday.  The kids had a library party in the morning, so we dropped them off and went grocery shopping.  It's amazing how fast the shopping can get done without little people!  And the kids appreciated it because they HATE grocery shopping.  That evening we did hit the pool for an hour.  Fridays nights are the only time you can take floatation devices into our pool and Rob had never been to a family float night, so we HAD to go.  It was another super fun family time.  Then it was home and bed to prep for Mt. Olympus the next day.  I'll blog about that later after my hands have had a rest :)

No comments: