Papa's first real 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  We hope everyone had a wonderful, safe Independence Day.  This year was Fernando's very first 4th of July celebration as an American citizen.  We may not have celebrated in any kind of grand fashion, but we did in fact celebrate and all five of us feel very blessed to be a proud part of this great nation.  In fact, I had the song "God Bless the USA" in my head most of the day. 

When I was a kid, my mom's side of the family would always get together on the 4th of July, usually at my grandma and grandpa's house.  For many years my siblings, cousins, and I would put on a pageant with dances and songs.  We would pick our songs and choreograph weeks ahead of time.  We would all have our parts and we had many routines alternating with each other so that we all performed with one another.  Some of the female cousins did solo dances, while the guys would usually be flag holders or be in charge of music.  My grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles were then forced into watching our entire pageant.  At least there was always yummy homemade ice cream to enjoy while out in the heat "enjoying" our show.  The song "God Bless the USA" could usually be heard to start our program with a rippling flag salute.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  I guess that's probably why I woke up with the song in my head without even hearing it.  The evening would then end with the uncles shooting off fireworks.  The kids got to play with sparklers.

This year while having three young kids who just happen to be scaredy pants with loud noises, and a baby who not only likes to be in bed early, but requires it, we decided that it would be best to stay in.  Actually, we really didn't have a choice anyway because the kids were falling asleep by 5 p.m. without us trying!  We've had such a crazy few weeks that everyone was starting to feel the exhaustion.

  

But lets back up.  My nephew was still spending time with us so with it being a holiday it was the perfect opportunity for my sis to come down with her other son to spend the day and pick up Jack.  The day started off crazy as usual, but when we finally got out of the house, the 8 of us headed out to the Founders' Plaza observation area at the airport.  We spent some time watching planes land and take off.  The kids loved it!  There are benches and picnic tables out there.  We brought snacks and drinks and enjoyed the breeze (although very warm) while we watched.  There was a little arguing over who was going to get to look through the telescopes (even though they were using them backwards).  

Fernando was explaining to the kids how airplanes fly

I think the youngest of the cousins, Henry, enjoyed it the most.   

Henry excitedly pointed at everything



He loved his snack too!

He kept pointing at the planes and smiling.  

My beautiful sis, Angi and her littlest, Henry. 
So thankful they could come visit!

 Afterwards we enjoyed some lunch and frozen custard together and went back to our place for some cousin play time.   

 

It was starting to get obvious that the boys had probably hit their limit on such intense play time together.  We had a little more disagreeing and a few more fights, but nothing unusual for kids who've been in each other's space for days at a time.  When my sis and her boys left, it was definitely bitter sweet.  It was the right time for Jack to go so that the kids could all be back into their normal routines, but we will miss having him around.  And it was so great to have my sister and Henry for a day too!  That doesn't get to happen near enough!

In the afternoon my three guys decided to play out back while I got the baby to sleep for nap.  While she was sleeping I got to spend time making some adorable tutus for That's Sew Belle.  It had been a while since I've been able to take the time to focus on some projects and it was fabulous getting to do that!  In the meantime, Fernando had finally fixed up the electronic car we had gotten as a hand-me-down for the kids.  They took the car for a test drive and of course really LOVED it! 

When I was done with my projects, as if right on cue, the baby woke and we were able to join the guys.  It was insanely hot outside, so I'm not sure why we were crazy enough to play out there, but nonetheless, we did.  Fernando had purchased a really nice fan a few weeks ago for our garage so that it could help us out a little.  I guess it offered some sort of breeze, but it was blowing hot air!  Besides the heat, we had a great time playing together.  Fernando did some organizational things in the garage while Nico played Play-Doh.  Max, Belle, and I pretended to be Mario Cart characters (using a Batman, Superman, Bert, and Ernie action figures) and did some obstacle courses.  We had so much fun, but by the time 4:30 rolled around, we were wiped out!  I'm not sure we should have played so long in 100 + temps.  By that time, Fernando had gathered some things from the garage that we wanted to donate so he took the boys with him to Goodwill.  They almost fell asleep on the very short car ride (only about 2-3 miles).  Thank goodness for the Crock pot!  I had started the BBQ chicken cooking earlier in the day.  It was intended for lunch but I was a couple hours too late getting it turned on.  It worked out for us rather nicely since we were too pooped to cook up anything after the busy day.  I just added some Hawaiian rolls for Fer and me and some bread for the boys along with carrot sticks and green beans and we were ready to roll.  Very little clean up too!  I had the kitchen cleaned and the kids bathed and in bed by 8.  Fernando and I got to enjoy a nice evening watching one of the movies he received from us for his 30 gifts for 30 years.  He got to watch a movie in his native language, and I got to read subtitles for a little over 2 hours.  Best part was the company :)  

It was such a satisfying, fulfilling day from start to finish.  There were just too many favorite parts of the day to list them all!  GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!