Happy Birthday, America

Our neighborhood has a 4th of July celebration every year.   The kids (and adults) ride their bikes, scooters, whatever around the block (it's about 3/4 of a mile).  We have done this every year since we moved in, and I think they even did that before we moved in.  It is situated right in front of our house in the middle of the street, so we're pretty much committed to going - although our crazy next door neighbors get out of it by just holing themselves up in their house for the entire day so no one will see them go in or out - weirdos!  The last 3 years the fire truck has come out to help us celebrate, always with the "well, if an emergency comes up we won't be able to be there" caveat.  Unfortunately, this was the year that must have happened - the fire truck was a no show.  Robie took the lead and lead the parade around the neighborhood.  We start at 10, which leaves us enough time to get the watermelon cooked up, the shades up, the grills and tables out.  The only problem is that the parade only takes a few minutes, so that means you are left eating a hot dog at 10:30 in the morning.  The rest of my family seemed to have no problem with it - I, on the other hand, think it is disgusting!  That's the joy of America, though, right?  We have the freedom to eat a hot dog at 10:30.

I was in charge of the games, which means I didn't get too many pictures since I was instructing 30 children in their relay instructions.  Their favorite, though was the tug-of-war (hopefully I"ll grab a picture of that from my reliable sister, Jenn, who was taking some...)

An afternoon tennis game filled the small gap in between activities, until we headed over to our friends' house for some pool, grilling and firework time.  It was actually  a suprisingly cool day so I didn't end up swimming because it seemed like it would be too cold,  I'm still regretting not taking a giant leap off that diving board - its so springy.  I did go ahead and prove that I am the worst ladder ball player ever (fair warning for anyone who was thinking of pairing up with me!).

We utilized our American freedoms to eat more hot dogs (specialty jalapeno and cheddar dogs to be exact) and way too many other sides and snacks.  Why did that watermelon have to be so sweet?  Unfortunately, Fox was not feeling so great - he had a fever a couple nights before and it came back nice and strong when he fell asleep on the way over to their house.  He slept in his carseat for a while, then woke up and fell back asleep on the front seat.  Finally, he woke up and Robie had to take him home when he was inconsolable.

 Ice cream, a bath and some tv at home fixed him up, just in time to come back and finish out the night the American way - with fire?  Go, America.

 On that note - we are SO excited for the Olympics over here.  We've been watching the Olympic trials (gymnastics and swimming mostly so far)  It's going to be great!