We're free today!

 Independence day started out rough.  We had crying, yelling, throwing, screaming, hitting, and time-outing at our house.  Our neighbors probably thought we were reenacting the Revolutionary War.  In many ways, we were, but the mother country won this one.  Jack was the only one who suffered battle wounds: he had a small bruise on his cheek where Addie had accidentally bonked him with a toy.  After everyone had calmed down, had their final clothing change after another accident, and ate lunch it was 4:00pm.  The day was practically over.  We decided to quickly head out the door and find some celebrating to join in on.  We arrived at the local park and discovered joyful festivities which soon put us all in happy moods. 

Addie got to hang out with the Kung Fu characters Po and Tigress, although she had no idea who they were.  Still, it's not everyday you get to high-five huge animals.

 Addie wanted to go on the fastest ride there, which she decided was the Bubbles the Whale one.  Its evident that she thoroughly enjoyed it, all one minute of it.

 This is how Jack celebrates.  Now that's my kind of party.  I would love to attend that party all night long.

Then we played on the playground for awhile.  Can't beat free and uncrowded fun!  We stopped by A&W for rootbeer floats afterward to help us cool off, and then we pointed our car in the direction of more fun: grandma's and grandpa's!

   The 4th is my mom's birthday and the 5th is Addie's, so we did some birthday celebratin' too.  We flopped our lips over some tasty BBQ and all came out looking basted in sauce ourselves. 

Jack kept giving Steve the biggest smiles, which made the rest of us jealous.  I think they were laughing at each others' baldness.

 Then I discovered a fish eye setting on my camera and the fun really began!

Being fully aware of all the fires going on, we decided water rockets were the way to go this year. (Okay, we would have done them anyway, fires or not. We're not the conscientious saints I painted us to be, I confess.)  Its amazing what you can do with water, a soda bottle, a cork, and a bike pump.  We really got that bottle flying and it was a blast! 

 Grandma and Jack watched from the porch while we put on a birthday water rocket show.  They were both impressed and tried to pay us money, but we refused on account of it being a holiday, too.  I sure like to make stuff up, don't I?

  After my mom opened her presents (I was unable to take pictures because I was feeding Jack at the time) Addie got hers from my parents.  It is so, so fun and we've already put some miles on it.  She absolutely loves it!

Then we got out the pop-its.  It was low-key fun for the whole family, high-key fun for Addie.  And Jason too, once he started throwing them at my feet.  I took many pictures trying to catch a pop on camera.  This was the one success.  See the small light spot in the corner?  Pop-it magic is what that is.

Then we watched fireworks from the backyard.  I have yet to figure out how to photograph those. Or be able to hold still.

After we all had been bitten by mosquitoes at least once we came inside where Addie opened another gift.  This one was from J and I. 

Lego's!  Addie already had a smaller set that she plays with for hours, so we decided to add to it for even more fun.  Lego's are truly the best toy ever!  I'll admit, I like to play with them, too.  For hours.  That's why we sometimes don't get dinner.  It's funny because I'm not even joking.

In conclusion, it was a fabulous day after all.  All day long Addie kept saying, "We're free today!" and I kept reminding her that we're free everyday, we're just celebrating it today...although, if you want to get deep (put on your floaties and keep reading if you do) we celebrate it everyday by the choices we get to make. Yay freedom!  It's wonderful to live in a country where we can choose what we do, where we live, and who we want to be...even if it's crabby people throwing tantrums in their house for half the day.  Now that's something to celebrate!

Miss Elaneous

Here are just some miscellaneous things we've been up to:

We grew mustaches as a family.  Actually, this was the picture we put in J's father's Day card with the caption: "We all wish we were like you."  You have to admit though, we look pretty good with facial hair.  At least the paper kind, anyway.

Addie got to ride a pony in my parents' neighbors' backyard.  And, speaking of mustaches, the man leading the pony has got a swell one, which added to the enjoyment of the ride. I think its a requirement for all pony guides to have a bushy 'stache.  Or it should be, anyway.

 Behind my parents' new house is an exciting little creek area.  After helping to put in a new yard in the hot sun all day, Addie and Grandpa cooled off by sticking their feet in the water.  Grandma and grandpa's house is so rad!

 Jack and I were just hanging out in the backyard one morning, and so I took a few pictures.  Boy, he sure has grown fast! 

He can yawn.  He can certainly hiccup, too.  Excellent skills that should serve him well throughout his life, I think.

He has lovely fuzzy blonde hair all over his sweet head (although more in the back, like an old man hairdo) and on his ears (also like an old man).  He's so fun to have in our family, even if he does cry like a baby.

 Jason went on a nighttime fishing trip a few Saturdays ago with his buddy, Stanton.  They stayed out until 4 in the morning and each came home with one fish.  This is J's walleye fish.  He has big teeth, but they weren't enough to keep him from being our lunch the next day.  He was delicioso! Doesn't Jason look like he just came out of a mine?  Like a diamond mine, perhaps, and his name is Doc and he's one of seven dwarfs?

I did not know fishes had tongues.  I also did not know that they could be so rude as to stick them out at you.  I guess its deserved, though.