4th Of July

We had a lovely 4th of July this year.  Really, I'm not sure I would have changed much about it!

We began the day by decorating two small bikes.  I think we did a pretty nice job!  The pinwheels on front were great - the spun the whole time the kids rode.

A little before 10 we peddled down the road to line up for the bike parade.  We met up with other neighborhood families at the park to parade down on of the main drags through the neighborhood in true patriotic style.  The kids got to check out a fire truck (the lead vehicle) and a police car (the sweeper).  Of course there was no way that Annabelle would make the full way on her too-big-tricycle, so Daddy happily bailed with her at the turn off to our house.  Sam and I pressed on, all the way to the pool (which you may refer to as 1. The Big Pool, 2. The Swim Team Pool or 3. The Pool That You Go To.  Any of those will differentiate it from the pool in our back yard).  Believe it or not, Sam finished almost at the front of the pack, I'm pretty sure almost 10 minutes ahead of some other riders.

Sam and I swam at The Big Pool for the first time, for an hour, by ourselves.  We had so much fun!  I love swimming with Baby Belle, too, but sometimes its fun to just play with a big kid.  There was a DJ, snacks and a fun crowd to celebrate the day.

After lunch, some good naps and a small list of to-do's (its amazing how having a party can motivate you to get things done) we welcomed some friends over for a pool party.  It was mostly our old community group, the one we hosted for 6 years at our old house, with a few additions.  It felt good and "right" to have our community group in our home once again.

We swam, chatted, grilled, ate, the kids played.  The kids even played inside while the parents chatted outside.  Glory!  We let the kids try out some sparklers, which are not nearly as cool when its not dark out yet.  But bedtimes were upon us, and most were going to work the next day.

Once everyone was gone I told Chris that the one thing I missed was fireworks.  Just a few minutes later we started hearing some go off in our neighborhood.  Then we heard some close - really close.  As in 10 feet from our driveway.  GOOD NEWS!  In the burbs there are very few rules about fireworks and you can set them off in your street!  So we watched our neighbors set off their stash, and some from a few streets over.  Next year we may even get a supply of our own...

Happy 4th of July!