July 4th Weekend

It is Sunday night after the July 4th weekend and now 10:30 and we are just barely getting around to getting kids to bed. An hour ago we were just sitting outside in the yard talking like the night was so young. I looked at my watch and realized that it was late and we were getting into a habit that is going to be hard to break. Problem was that the party here really just went on and on. Our local park puts on a pretty good fireworks show both Friday and Saturday nights. Last night we just couldn't believe we were getting to do it all again as we watched another great show.
And of course we watched both displays from our tree house. It is becoming a tradition that we are definitely going to miss when we leave. Celebrating the 4th really is pretty fun here. Along with fireworks the nearby park has a carnival, kids activities, and concerts all weekend. If you can stand to endure the local people and their filthy language and habits it's possible to have a great family outing.

One of our weekend highlights was a breakfast at the Hopkins on the 4th. Good food, great times, and paint-stained clothing. Are poster paints really washable???My washing machine says....NO!

One of our weekend hightlights was kickball in the streets with the neighbor kids. It got a little rough with Brent against the lot of us. Brent forgets he is playing with little girls and tripped a couple of them when he nailed them with the ball. After several skinned knees we decided our next game would be at the park. That's when Mr. Competetive beaned Savannah right before she reached 1st base (a park bench) causing her to crash headfirst into it. Way to go tough guy. He carried her home in tears. With all our best efforts I think it still was hardly enough to make Brent appreciate his family of girls. The next night we played at a little league diamond. Marcus even put on his nikes and joined his Dad at the plate. Brent did his best to recruit some boys and men sitting around waiting for the firework show but couldn't get any takers.

We tried to think of a family that would really enjoy our tree house festivties and decided on the Turners in our ward. Their two boys joined us July 4th when our whole family went up. Their parents sat on our front porch and saw only a few sparks. Caroline and Orion kept saying, "This is the best night ever!" through out the entire show. They especially enjoyed the part when the light at the back of our house came on and we got to see their Dad use the potty. He seemed to forget that we were all up there just looking at the back of our house with a bird's eye view. Luckily he remembered to wash his hands. We didn't say anything afterward and I don't think they read this blog so it will just be our secret.

One of our girls broke out in a spontaneous chorus of You're a Grand Old Flag just as the show began and we had so much fun singing our hearts out that we sang every patriotic song we knew by the time it was over. It was a blast to sing along and I can't believe I have never done that before. Maybe because this is the first time we were up in our private box seats. Man, I wish we could take the tree house home with us. It was just too perfect!

But what wasn't perfect was the cake that I made for our party. It tasted GOOOD, but looked pretty shabby next the perfect flag cake Alaska prepared. And then I got accused of eating a third of it before the party since it was missing. I don't know if anyone actually believed my story, even though it was the absolute truth, that I had to throw away that side because for some reason the oven wasn't level and that part was burnt to a crisp.

Anyways, we all agreed after our weekend that we love celebrating the 4th of July. I felt just like I do Dec 26th all day today as I realized the Carnival was packing up and going home.

Well, it is 10:50 and the girls are all asleep finally. And Marcus is just waking up. He went at least 2 weeks straight sleeping through the night. Now suddenly he is sick, starving, hot, or bored. . . . ? We can't figure out which. But he is hardly sleeping at all! And can I mention again that I am so sick of him spitting up? I would pay some serious cash if it was possible to work a miracle and get him to stop. What a mess it is!

Here are the pictures. We got them all but Br. Turner in the potty.