Stars and Stripes

oh me, oh my, how I love the fourth of july!!!

The weekend started off at the water park with a few families from the old neighborhood. And this is where I learned that I am responsible for WAY too much skin. I applied, reapplied, and re-reapplied sunscreen to the girls but I ended up with some crazy tan lines and Bennett's cheeks got more sun than I realized. Boo, bad mommy. Then we enjoyed a quiet BBQ at Kara's house that night since everyone's kids were exhausted from the day :)

I asked the girls to turn around and smile for one picture. This one picture in the seven hours we were there. I guess Abbey talked to J later and said, "I just came here to swim and have fun and all mom wants to do is take pictures." First of all, puh-lease! Second of all, ....touché. Sometimes it is too much. After that admonishment I was timid about bringing out the lens at J's work party the next night. Which is a bummer since it is held at the most picturesque piece of property and I look forward to getting a few shots there every year.

Great food, great company. Everything was great until, dun dun dun. The fireworks started. Big fireworks. Good, illegal fireworks. The girls had just found their eggs from the chicken coop and didn't have hands to cover their ears. Hayden was cracking us up by using her arms instead.

We went inside to save the girls from imminent doom and got talking with my awesome OB who delivered Bennett while the kiddos played hide-n-seek in her basement. By the time we wandered back outside, the last of the partiers had gathered on the front lawn to watch the neighbor's firework show (who also fancies the good, illegal ones). It was perfect. We were close enough to have a good show and far enough away that the girls were not so frightened of the noise. I was so happy to see them finally enjoying fireworks, what a treat. And we were the last car to leave, as usual.



To cap off the perfect weekend, some friends invited us boating the next day. We hit up the church breakfast that morning. Well...we slept through breakfast. But made it for the flag ceremony and patriotic talk. It was nice to have a reverent moment to remember those who have fought and this wonderful country we enjoy.

We thought we'd be boating for 2-3 hours, but were able to keep the boat all day and got in a good six hours on the lake. I loved watching my kids on the tubes. They've surprised me lately with their bravery.

And this time I was not messing around when it came to the sunscreen.

We barely had time to shower and change before heading out to the last BBQ of the weekend...so we didn't. Didn't shower or change, I mean. By this point, nobody cared what anyone looked like, it was all about how much fun you could squeeze into a day.

Hayden picked up this piñata at a garage sale a few weeks ago. That girl knows how to party.

The concerned lad in the background asked, "Why are we hitting a piñata from Italy on the 4th of July?"

Yeah, what gives? They had nothing to do with this.

The adults laughed and marveled that the youngster knew Italy's colors and never really answered his question.

After the kids each got about three or four turns and their faces were turning from excitement to frustration, J stepped in to finish the job. Luckily, no one was harmed in the process.

Then off to squeeze in just a little bit more fun, really use up every minute of the weekend. We met over in an open field to watch the big boys play with their toy airplanes :) I've given them a hard time about it, but the thing is actually pretty cool.

As you can see from Abbey's face, clearly it is time for this day to come to an end. Can't wait for next year!