Monday Shawn had off work for the 4th of July since it fell on a Sunday this year. We had planned on getting more yard work done. Shawn's brother and my sister both called that morning to see if we'd like to join them, and we declined since we knew the jungle needed tamed. That said, our yard is completely brown after frying this week!!! We worked and worked and worked on the yard, taking several trips to the dump. It was awful pulling weeds in the heat. At one point, I thought about sitting down to cry in my misery. But, we kept plugging away at it. Inch by inch, little by little, it looks better to us but doesn't look good in general.
After the kids woke up from their naps, we were so hot, we decided to take our neighbors up on their offer to let us swim in their pool 'anytime.' The boys loved it! We had bought Caleb swim floaties to replace the other ones we had lost (and wouldn't you know after wearing them a few times, I found the other ones today with our other swim bag!). Both boys are doing well in the pool. Joshua will let go for short distances with his on. Caleb is still scared but can float with them a little bit. The pool was extremely refreshing, and I'm sure we'll go again some time. We are blessed to have such sweet neighbors!
When we were done in the pool, Daddy made us some burgers for dinner. Then he said that he wouldn't mind seeing his brother, so he called Brian and invited his family to Freeze 'n Frizz for ice cream. The above pictures were taken there (Caleb with his shake; Jenavieve sitting on the window seat with our boys while we ordered our ice cream; and the 'boys' - Shawn, Brian, Grant, Joshua & Caleb in birth order).
Grant & Joshua pretended they were trains (while we watched to make sure no real trains came). At one point they were both Thomas, then Grant was Henry and Joshua was James, etc. Jenavieve & Caleb joined in toward the end of their game and Caleb decided he wanted to be Gordon. Anytime we asked him who he was, his response was Gordon. He 'choo choo-ed' along with the other kids, but he was definitely the caboose by far. :)
We also saw ducks swimming on the other side of the track. Unfortunately a couple older kids came and threw stones at the ducks and the baby duckies. Again, I wondered why the parents didn't correct them, but I guess that's just part of life. We didn't allow our children to throw stones. They enjoyed playing for a little while after we had all scarfed down our ice cream on this hot day. In fact, on our way home (which was around 8ish or a little later), the outside temp according to Shawn's car was still 95 degrees.
Since we hadn't done our sparklers the night before, we decided to let the kids have their fun after I gave them both a bath (they were covered in dirt from playing on the train tracks). The boys headed out in their jammies while Daddy prepared our fireworks & sparklers. Our neighbors were out watering their flowers and put a little water in our bucket for us since their hose was handy. I questioned doing them in the driveway, but Shawn said that was the safest place, especially with how dry our grass is right now. I said okay.
Once again the boys LOVED doing sparklers. I started out helping Caleb, showing him where to hold the 'stick' and how to keep it away from his body so he didn't get burned. Both boys did well dropping them into the bucket of water after they were done.
Joshua & I did one together. We spelled his name and MOM & DAD before my sparkler was done.
Then we decided to try some of the other things Shawn had got at the store to celebrate the 4th of July. The first thing was .99 cents and it was quite the show of colors. The boys LOVED them!
Daddy thought they were a good deal for the price! I had to agree. The kids would call out the color (each one was a different one) and they were nice to watch. Then Daddy had bought two more expensive ones (less than $10). So, he decided to set the first one off, telling the kids to get back on the step before he did. Thank GOD he said to do that! We had NO idea how massive this firework thing was. It let off all sorts of noise and bangs and pops and fire shot out everywhere. I have never seen anything like it in a legal 'home' firework. Our neighbors who had gone inside came back out with their hose to make sure their house was okay. I thought we were all going to have a heart attack 'til it was over (or at least I was). Both kids jumped up to me as they were terrified (and probably sensed our apprehension as well). We were close to our cars, we have gas in our garage for the lawn mower, we were close to dead grass. This was not the best idea we've ever had. That said, we didn't really think that this little thing would go off the way it did. Here's the first picture before I dropped the camera and held the boys as it continued to go off for what felt like an eternity.
Our neighbor sweetly suggested that we take the other one to the street. We laughed and said that one was MORE than enough! We were done! We all chuckled (thankfully!). Praise God we were all safe. Shawn did take some precautions, but it was just that this was "unexpected." :) :) :) :)
Joshua said he'd like to do more sparklers instead. We agreed that that was a good plan. We did another box or so of sparklers and then they went right in to bed. :) Thus ended our holiday weekend!
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