Wednesday, July 6, 2011

A Fabulous 4th!

Our holiday weekend started off not quite so fun. Gideon started running a really high fever on Tuesday evening. So after a trip to the Dr. and a diagnosis of Tonsilitis, we spent the next couple of days trying to keep his fever down with tylenol & trying to get him to drink enough not to get overly dehydrated.

Fortunately by Friday his temperature wasn't spiking up quite so high and he seemed to be acting well enough to go the cabin with Nana & Grandpa. They went up Friday afternoon and Parker and I went and joined them on Saturday morning. It was a fun weekend, Gideon "helped" grandpa put the addition onto his deck, I read a lot of books & magazines and Parker crawled around and got as dirty as possible. Of course we had to stop and get a few little fireworks to let off.









Parker liked watching them and chewing on the empty boxes (until of course we took them away from her.)





Dirty babies get bathed in the sink of course! (And the other reason I took this photo is because somewhere floating around in the world is a photo of Travis at about this age in this very sink....)


Sunday afternoon the kids & I packed up and left the cabin. After a quick stop at home we went to mom & dad's to spend the night with them. Of course Gideon had to have fireworks there too. Fortunately we found what was left of Uncle Cody's stash and were pleased to discover there were still some very fun things in it, like race cars and tanks. (You know the fun stuff for a 3 year old.)






And of course lots of sparklers!



On Monday morning I got up and left super early to make it back to Idaho Falls for the Firecracker 5K Freedom Run. It wasn't my best 5K but it wasn't my worst either. All in all we'll call it a success. While I was doing that, mom & daddy took the kids to the pancake breakfast in Menan. I joined them there once I was done. For such a small town Menan really puts on an amazing 4th of July celebration. There's a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a 5K fun run and a softball tournament & a parade. As well as an all day "festival" with booths and vendors & food and games for the kids (fishing ponds, ring tosses, etc....) and all day entertainment consisting of local singers, dancers and musicians. (Yes, my mom performed, but I didn't happen to get a photo of that.) And their fireworks show is awesome. I won't say it's better than anyone else's, but it can hold it's own against any show in the area, which is pretty good coming from a town of 707 residents.


Gideon had fun on the seesaw & the swings and generally running around the playground like a wild man.





Gideon liked getting pushed by grandpa because he went really high! After the breakfast we went back to mom & dad's house where I showered & changed and then we headed back to the park for the festival.


First we did the fishing pond and the bouncy castles. Naturally we had to do everything like 7 times throughout the day.




Parker loves to give big sloppy wet kisses now! It's super cute!




Grandpa took Parker for a little walk and they came back with a pretty green beaded bracelet (which she was chewing on.) I asked him whose it was and he said, "Hers. She told me she wanted it." Uh-huh. Sure. I think grandpa just likes spoiling his kids. He bought his 3 unborn grandchildren all something from the festival as well as a hair bow for Parker and a ninja sword for Gideon. Plus he paid for him to do the fish pond and ring toss several times.



And what's Independence Day without a hot dog?







After my mom sang, we headed out to the truck to wait for the parade to start.




We were joined by Michael and Ashlynn who spent the rest of the day with us, so that was fun. And I got a kick out of the fact that my mom looks like she belongs at a polo match and not at a 4th of July parade. Sadly I didn't get any photos of the parade because I was taking all of those with mom's camera. but it was a good parade. Almost an hour long and lots of candy. Gideon would walk out in the road and just hold his hands out and then they had to throw candy at him, so he really cleaned up. After the parade we went back to mom & dad's to rest and get out of the sun for a while. The kiddos took naps and the adults relaxed. Then we headed back down to the park to wait for the fireworks.


Parker's cute jammies!


We were joined at the fireworks by some friends of Michael & Ashlynn & this super cute girl in the red & white is Hillary Crawford. A friend of the family from when they lived in Pueblo, CO who's now going to school at BYU-I.


That's our friend Doreen talking to mom. Her sons wrestled with Cody at Madison. As it got a little darker we broke out the glow sticks.




And of course we had to have some more sparklers!







My darling little toothless boy!



Sometimes I just wonder about this woman.....


The fireworks don't start until around 10:15 because it just doesn't get dark enough here until then. This was the first year Gideon actually stayed awake for the show. It was fun to watch and listen to his reactions. Although I do think he started getting a little bored and tired after about 20 minutes.



Parker fell asleep but then woke up a few minutes before the show actually started. And she amazed me. She was completey mesmerized by the show. She sat stock still and didn't make a sound, but just watched with wide eyes the entire time! It was super cute!

All in all we'll call it a success! The only downside was that we missed Travis and really wished he could have been with us. But oh well. Maybe next year.

2 comments:

Leisha Mareth said...

Wow. Sure beats my 4th! Sitting around eating Mexican food trying to avoid the heat!

Your kids are gorgeous.

Unknown said...

Yeah, beats my 4th too. Both Ryan and I worked. At least he got to see the fireworks at Turtle Bay. I was dog-sitting a little dog that's scared of the dark and fireworks. Oh well, it's like you said, there's always next year.