The Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July. My parents, my brother Brian, Graddaddy, Great Aunt Jean, my cousin Matthew, and Aunt Carol all came over to swim and eat ribs for lunch. (We have a smoker now and Brad makes some delicious ribs!) It was a beautiful morning so I set up everything outside-the hammock, sand and water play table for Nicholas, the cornhole game boards, floats, tables, etc. so we could eat outside and relax in the sun. Just when it was time for everyone to arrive, the dark clouds appeared. We hurried and cleaned everything up outside just before the huge rainstorm hit. So we ate our ribs inside. The rain finally stopped so we headed outside for the pool. We played some pool volleyball, where Matthew and I were the true winners. (We just let everyone else think they beat us :) The pool water was actually cold in the breeze after the rain. I don't think I can remember a Fourth where we were cold swimming.

That night instead of watching fireworks on the bluff, we decided to ride with Aunt Carol and Matthew on their boat to see the fireworks at Doublehead resort. Daddy watched Nathan so we could take Nicholas and go out on the boat. We left about 6:30 because we thought the show began at 9:15. It takes about 30 minutes by water to get there and we wanted a good spot to watch from. We listened to the concert that was playing on the riverside and waited for fireworks to begin. At 9:15-no fireworks. At 9:30-no fireworks. Brad decided to use his phone to look up what time the fireworks were scheduled to begin. The website said 9:30. We waited. 9:45-still no fireworks. By this time, Nicholas was fast asleep on the back seat of the boat. We decided we would wait until 10:00 and then leave if there were no fireworks. Finally at 10:00, the show began. The show was good. It was my first time seeing fireworks from the river. We headed back to Carol's house in the very cold air. We finally made it home around 11:00 to relieve Daddy from watching Nathan. I can't remember the last time I stayed out until 11:00. We are definitely getting old!


Here are Nicholas and Nathan in their pajamas playing on the activity mat before we dressed them. As you can see, Nicholas crawls right up there to play with Nathan. He even likes to lay down next to him.

Graddaddy takes care of Nathan while we are getting lunch ready.

I had to take this picture of Nathan wearing the same Fourth of July shirt and shorts that Nicholas wore last year on July 4th. That meant Nicholas was 8 months when he wore it. Nathan is only 3 months and it fits! Nathan will soon pass our little Nicholas in weight.

Nicholas is waiting for the boatride to begin. He did not like wearing the life jacket. He kept trying to pull it off. When we came to a stop in front of Doublehead, I let him take it off and walk around on the boat. He was much happier then.


Here we are sitting on the boat waiting for the show to begin. There was a concert going on on both sides of the river, so we had plenty of entertainment. Plus Matthew brought his police scanner, so we listened to all the crazy things happening around town on a holiday.