4th of July

We had a fun family day on the fourth.  Heidi and Aaron came up with their family in the morning and hung out with us during the parade.  I hate to say it, but the parade has become increasingly lame over the years (more and more people handing out flyers for their businesses and fewer and fewer people handing out candy).  Lee’s Market saved the day by throwing the kids loads and loads of candy when they held up their Lee’s bags.  Thank you Lee’s!

After the parade we went to Heidi’s parents’ house for Pizza Man pizza and swimming.  The water was nice and warm and we all had a great time.  We picked Heidi’s parents’ brains about their pool and deck installation.  We are almost ready (a year or two away) to do a similar setup in our backyard.  It’s always helpful to get advice from someone who has already done it.

Our evening entertainment was a BBQ at Jody’s house.  It was nice to hang out with family and relax for a while.  The highlights were lawn games, water balloons, basketball, and fancy patriotic nails.  Nate and I are rarely party poopers, but we bailed out before fireworks.  We had taken the kids to the Pleasant View Founders Day fireworks the week before, so we didn’t feel too bad about it.  We had been playing for too many days in a row and were just plain worn out.  Not all of our kids were thrilled with the idea of coming home before dark, but they got over it.  We saw a cool heart shaped cloud on the drive home.  That was almost as cool as fireworks.  Almost.  (It was a better heart when Ben spotted it, but it took me a minute to get the camera out and roll down the window.)  I know that it makes me sound like an old lady, but after a few busy days and late nights it was sure nice to have everyone in bed before 10 p.m.