We made July 4th kind of a whole weekend celebration instead of just a day. It just kind of came together that way. We started the morning with the now annual neighborhood July 4th parade. All the kids met at our house on their bikes, most of which were decorated, (our family only had purple and yellow streamers…so you know we just went with it), and then they rode around the block. Which meant that the bigger kids raced and made the 1.8 mile loop in about 5 minutes, and the littles and parent walkers took about 35 minutes….Coppelia was slowing down quite a bit with me walking with her and I reminded her that there were popsicles waiting at our house at the end and that totally motivated her the rest of the way. Everyone kind of chilled at our house on the zip line, play structure and all over for a bit after the parade.
The night of the 4th we ended up having a grill out in our fire of hot dogs and then doing a few fireworks. Our fireworks were limited because a huge storm moved in, but the kids enjoyed what we did anyway.
The 5th was a day full of adulting. I worked (in case anyone ever asks the day after a holiday is a super busy day in the ER….) and Clint dropped the van off to have a recall issue fixed and then went rock climbing with a friend. The kids played at my parents house.
The 6th was our day of picnics. Our first picnic was with Chris and his parents and my parents. It was the first time our parents met which was really cool. Chris and I share DNA and a birth mom, and our parents share their journeys of getting the adoption calls and raising us. Chris’ parents were super sweet and brought the kids a couple of books about the desert where they live in Arizona. The kids love reading the books and have learned a lot. It was a really special lunch.
That evening we had our annual 4th of July neighborhood picnic at one of the neighbors. The kids played in the pool, on the swing set, with the air hockey table and with water balloons. All the grown up neighbors sat and talked and caught up. Our neighbor fosters kittens and I think Caedmon spent the majority of his time in the kitten room loving on the baby kittens. He definitely wanted to adopt a couple more. I left before the sun went down with the two littles because it was past their bed times, but Clint stayed with the older 3 and did fireworks. Everyone brought some fireworks to set off and the kids talked about it for days.
And finally we made it to Sunday. After church we headed to my parents house for lunch with my brother Josh and his wife Heidi. My parents black raspberries are just getting ripe and the kids had a blast picking some. Coppelia picked a number that weren’t ripe yet, but that was ok. After lunch Josh and Heidi confirmed what I had suspected that they are expecting their first. They are due around Christmas and then they had a big present with colored balloons in it to reveal what gender. The kids opened the box and learned that they are going to have a baby girl cousin! I think they were more excited about the balloons and the big box then the actual news, but what do you expect?
It was a good weekend, full of good memories and lots of laughter.
Hiking Mommy 