We got back in town Friday afternoon from a week of visiting with my parents. The 4th of July snuck up on us a bit this year. With us being out of town the week before, and it falling on a Tuesday, we honestly didn’t have much planned except spending time together after being apart for a week. And we were pretty thankful for a short week.
We got back home just in time to find the weather had become oppressively hot. The previous week was actually a little milder than usual with a bit of a breeze. And being two hours north always helps a bit. We had a birthday party for a neighbor friend Saturday morning. It was pretty steamy but a dunking booth and slip n slide helped take the edge off for the kids. The rest of us were grabbing shady spots wherever we could find them.
In the afternoon while the boys had some rest time I worked on getting our things unpacked and then we cooked dinner at home.
Sunday was church and in the afternoon Tom took Thomas and Arthur to the movies to see Cars 3. We kept it a secret until right before they were going to leave. They were both beyond excited. This was actually both of their first time to go to the movies. We enjoy movies at home with them every now and then for a treat. But we’ve never been big moviegoers, even before having kids. And until now they both haven’t been old enough to bring together. They love the Cars movies and have several of the Cars characters they play with a good bit. They both loved the movie, and it was a pretty good treat on a hot and humid afternoon.
That evening we grabbed some dinner out and stopped by the grocery to restock for the week.
Monday we hung out around the house until Tom got home. Unfortunately, he had to work part of the day. The boys and I went to pick up a few things for dinner that night. We ended up grilling burgers and corn and putting together a few sides for that night instead of doing it Tuesday night on the 4th. We had a few of the boys from the neighborhood eat with us and after dinner they all migrated to the back yard for some baseball.
We honestly didn’t have much in the way of festivities planned for the actual 4th. We made it a family trip to the gym in the morning and both Tom and I got in a good workout after a week away. It always feels great to get back in the workout routine.
After that we made a quick trip to the store to pick up a small pool for the back yard. Not sure why we hadn’t done this earlier this year but it’s always a fun afternoon activity for the boys.
A boy and his water hose…
We have pictures of each of them at this age we could put side by side doing the exact same thing. He would stand there for as long as you’d let him just watching the water.
That night we did some more grilling. We’ve been taking advantage of the long nights and playing in the back yard and having more dinners on the grill. We had pork, more corn, and some fruit for dinner. I tried out a new recipe for mini key lime cheesecakes. They were a huge hit. So summery. We will be adding this to our collection for sure.
The highlight came at the end of the night watching some amazing fireworks. Every year there are fireworks over the lake across the neighborhood from us. It’s not until 9:00 but we push through and have everyone ready for bed basically before we leave. We drove over and put out a blanket and enjoyed the show. JL promptly got into the festivities copying Thomas and Arthur by declaring “whoa” after each one. It was pretty cute. I actually commented to Tom that every time we go over there for the show it feels so peaceful sitting and watching. He agreed. It’s a pretty special treat to share with these boys and a great way to wrap up the holiday!
