The 4th of July 2009

I look forward to the 4th of July every year! I love Martin Family Fun Days and the 4th of July ends up being one of those days! We start every year with a parade followed by lunch (and naps). When everyone is up, we have a big waterslide in the court...a barbecue and fireworks.

Rather than post a bunch of pictures - - - I'll let this video do the talking. (Sorry about the quality --- the pictures look blurry.) :(




A couple of my thoughts:

• Ryan loved the parade. He wasn't quite sure in the beginning what was going on but he really loved it! He loved the old cars and quickly picked out an old corvette (what can we say? It must be in the blood!) He also liked the army cars and the marching band. When the marching band came by, he kept saying "oohh -what's that mommy?" And he was able to tell ME about the tuba!!!!
• After Ryan napped, we came out and visited with the neighbors for a while. He would take sideways glances at the waterslide but didn't want anything to do with it. Finally, he decided he wanted to get dressed and go down the slide. He was so excited when we were in the house getting ready...in fact he took off out of the garage racing straight towards the slide (with daddy a ways behind him). As you can see from the video, he quickly changed his mind once he saw how high up it was. That didn't stop Daddy though. I was a little worried how he'd do with the water because up until today, he HATED the water. Wouldn't go in the pool (without screaming) and hated to be splashed. I couldn't believe that my little fish had turned into a kid who hated swimming. After some patience on Daddy's part, Ryan turned the corner (so to speak) and ended up LOVING the slide and the water. Couldn't WAIT to go back in.
• I don't have any pictures of dinner or the fireworks but Ryan had fun sitting with the big kids (Siena, Emily (Mimi), Trinity and Rain) at the kid's table.
• Ryan had such a fun time...and was such a trooper. He was soooo tired by about 8:00 but he stayed up for fireworks. He had a GREAT time the previous week watching fireworks and was very excited to say "KABOOM" when they went off. But the small ones we let off in the court weren't fun for him. I think that the combo of being so tired and then the loud noises just were too much for him. He let me cuddle with him though....so that was nice for me.

Thanks to our court family for another awesome party. It turned out GREAT and I can't wait to do it again next year!!!