A High Rolling 4th of July

 

Having just returned from Sue's Memorial I would have been content grilling some hamburgers in the backyard and doing some sparklers and a few little fountains and calling it a night.   But Matthew's friend Bridger's family had invited us (along with several other families) over for a Salmon BBQ and we had accepted, so off we went. 



We left our 4th of July paraphernalia at home but did our traditional photos.



We ate dinner and visited and then headed out for fireworks.  The kids loved the parachutes.



Up it goes!



and off they go!



I'll be honest.  I'm not a big fireworks person.  Don't get me wrong, I love them at Disneyland, and I'm all about a good sparkler and a few pretty little fountains.  It really wouldn't feel like 4th of July without them.  But other than that,  it just feels like a huge waste of money to me. 

The kids however,

 

love it.



One of the neighbors owns a fireworks stand.  So the firework display was pretty spectacular.  I overheard them say that one of them was an $80 firework (can you imagine?  No, thank you).  And they set them off like that for hours.  Hours!

 

Suffice it to say, our little contribution to the show was laughable at best, but that's how the Zeamer's roll on the 4th.



Matthew's buddy, Bridger.  He and Matthew are a funny pair and have a great time together.



Boys.



Love this picture of Dan.  Love that smile.



Give this boy some fire on a stick and he's a happy kid.





It quickly got cold and the fireworks went very late into the night.  There were exciting moments like when the Roman Candle exploded inside the tube while one of the teenagers was holding it.  (I didn't think people actually HELD them anymore...)  He was okay, but it was scary for a moment.  And then there was the time when the neighbor (who was incredibly reasonable) down the street came and asked that the Roman Candles be pointed a different direction as his daughter was just hit by one.  It was an impressive show, the kids had a great time with their friends and it was a fun departure from our usual low budget (but fun) 4th of July.  But it was quite cold and late and so we headed home before it was quite over.

Happy Birthday America!

Fun on the 4th

If you ask my boys what their favorite holiday is, they'll say,
"4th of July!"

They have been counting down the days to this moment for quite a while.
The morning of the 4th, they were counting the hours.
"How many more hours now, mama?"
They could not wait to get to Grandma Glenda and Uncle Dale's house to swim.
(If anyone is confused about the names, it's Michelle's parents, but for some reason they chose to call Glenda "Grandma" and Dale, "Uncle."  I assure you, Glenda is just as youthful as Dale). :)



We arrived at the Brunson's and the cousins were in the pool within minutes.
They swam all day, and had a fantastic time.
They all loved the pool.  Loved the water.  It was great.

In the above picture, Isaiah is shooting Michelle, who was standing next to me at the time.
He was pleased that he hit the intended target. :)



That's Katie under all of those flotation devices.
She was fussing at one point for someone to hang on to her and Dan jokingly said,
"Kaitlin, it isn't possible for you to drown right now." 
:)
Uncle Mike was a great sport with helping her get comfortable in the water and before we knew it the water wings were off, the board was gone and she would "swim" from the steps to the ladder in the deep end, climb out, go back to the steps and start over again.  She was even jumping off the side of the pool into the water and going down the slide!  She is a little fish and has taken easily to the water.



Here's Andrew, going down the slide.
He was a good sport about the pink life preserver.

 We did have to keep a close eye on him and Noah who took their life preservers off and were a little too brave at times....Andrew added a little excitement to the day when everyone had gotten out & dried off so that we could eat dinner and then he fell into the pool in the deep end.  Matthew was yelling "He needs help!!" and Dan jumped in after him (in his t-shirt) right away.

Good thing we had lots of life guards standing by.



Hi, Grandparents!
There were always lots of sets of eyes on the pool which was a good thing.



The kids had fun being tossed around by Dan.



That is, until this moment.
It's all fun and games until....



...someone does a belly flop.
Ouch.



Matthew executed a lot of great belly flops.
Fortunately, it was when he was still getting comfortable in the pool and hadn't taken his life preserver off yet. (He's an official swimmer now ~ which is a major feat as it took us nearly 5 years of his life just getting him to get his ears wet).



Cute little Noah Bean who is just growing up so much and is so entertaining & funny to watch.
He is a sweet boy.

There was such a difference in the 4th of july this year.
The kids have collectively gotten so independent.
It was really strange.
But also fun, and honestly a little sad for me, all at the same time.



I mean, look at this. Mike is reading a book!!!
Amazing.
(I should clarify ~ Not amazing that he's reading ~ he reads a lot ~ amazing that he had the opportunity to read on this day!)

And I found myself vacillating between thinking,
"This is SO great!"
and
"Are you sure you guys don't need anything?"

I definitely sense a transition in my job description coming on.

Change.

Anyway, here's another glorious sight.



Mike and Michelle, lounging.
Lounging.
Fantastic.



We did our traditional "silly cousin 4th of July picture".

While the kids were willing to participate, they were really worn out from a full day of swimming in the sun. Matthew was so tired he had been crying when we were getting his clothes on right before this photo. Poor little guy. When he's tired I can still see glimpses of that sensitive, fussy baby/toddler. He was crying because Noah and Andrew were "talking too loud" in the next room. They weren't ~ they were just excited, but loud (even not so loud) sounds (and a plethora of other things) bother him when he's tired. I hope for his sake he never pledges a fraternity! Can you imagine? :)



Here are mom and Winnie being the "Red Hat Society." :)



Me and the Bug, feeling quite gorgeous.





You can see in this picture that Matthew was really trying to be a good sport, but his heart wasn't feeling too silly.  Loving Isaiah though.  He's really feeling his 4th of July flair.

I asked them if they'll still humor me and still do the "silly cousin picture" when they're sixteen.

I think they will.  They're sweet like that.
Right, boys?  :)



I'd say that's a definite "yes".



Again, Matthew not in a silly mood. But smiling anyway.
He was being good to his mama.
Thanks, love.



I think Isaiah wins for most 4th of July "flair." (Movie reference, anyone?) :)

We ate a delicious All-American dinner of cheeseburgers, sausages, hot dogs, baked beans, corn salad, potato salad, and lots of fruits and vegetables. It was wonderful. Homemade ice cream for dessert.

Really, what more could we ask?



It was so windy last year that we didn't get to set off fireworks.
So we had them all ready for this year!

The boys are in the background doing "pop its'.
What little boy doesn't love a pop it?



This little boy was excited about the tank.



I'm not sure what irresponsible parent let the 3 year old wield her own sparkler, but we'll get to the bottom of that before next year.



With 5 little kids all with sparklers, there were a few exciting moments. :)
Fortunately, no one caught on fire, and remarkably, everyone's eyebrows were intact.



The big moment finally arrived.
It was dark enough for our firework display.
The sight of those 3 little ones in those 3 little chairs is just too cute.



Lots of words like "dude" were being said over here.
:)

It really was a wonderful day.
Between the sun, the pool, the delicious food, the great company ~ it truly felt like a vacation.
It was so relaxing and just a wonderful day.
A HUGE thank you to Dale and Glenda for your efforts to make such a lovely holiday for all of us.
It was so appreciated.  We're very grateful!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

4th of July ~ Part 2

This 4th of July post is going to stretch out for a while. I am trying to get the house ready to receive some family from New Mexico, and also get ready for a week long beach trip, as well as plan Andrew's birthday party and so my free time is a little limited right now.  (Ha. "Right now." Because usually, I'm swimming in free time, right? :) )  So I'm just doing little parts at a time.

Anyway, I'm not sure why I force the children to take a family photo at every holiday & occasion that we have. We haven't typically changed much since the last photo....but I do so love to look back on these family photos and see how we all change since the year before at that particular time. I also hope the kids will like having them one day. So with that hope in mind, I will continue to torture them.

And after I typed that it made me curious and so I looked back at 2010.



The year before ('09).  (I don't think our family one turned out ~ I didn't post it).

And the year before that was in a slideshow, so I couldn't easily get the photo.
But this was the day after.  My Dad's last birthday.
He looks so great!  Oh, how he loved that little baby.
(He adored ALL of his grandkids, my Dad just LOVED babies).



Anyway, these are some 2011 family 4th of july pictures.



Ready to swim!



They were so anxious to go see their cousins.



And I'd be happy to just stay right here for a while, with the kids being 3, 5, and 8.
It's a sweet spot, for sure.

The fun part ~ our family gathering ~ is up next.

Happy 4th of July!!

We had our traditional family gathering at my sister in law's parents house for a 4th of july BBQ and swimming.

The boys LOVE this day. Recently, Matthew and Isaiah have both said that 4th of July is their favorite holiday! They truly love spending the day swimming and doing fireworks. I have to agree, it's a very fun and relaxing day.

This year, the weather was cooler than usual. We seem to get one every few years...this was that year. It didn't bother the kids though--they were up for swimming!

Winnie was SUCH a nice Grammie and went swimming with the Bug when no other grown up would. (Dan did for a while but got too cold). Kaitlin would be shivering but if you asked her if she was cold she'd say no, "Warm." She didn't want to get out!

Kaitlin LOVED jumping off of the step into the pool. She is a little fish!

They only had a pink life jacket available the morning of the 4th in Matthew's size...I told him that it was the only one and that it was most important to be safe. He was so cute and at first said that he felt embarrassed, but then said, "Look Mama! It has grey on it! I like grey! And the flower looks like Hawaii! And I like hot pink!" I was proud of him that he didn't throw a fit or be grumpy about it--he found the positive things to focus on.

Going down the slide...

Matthew and Isaiah both had firsts this summer. They both jumped off the diving board and went down the slide without life jackets and swam to the side. My favorite part of the day was when Matthew was nervously standing on the diving board without his life jacket on trying to gather his courage to jump. Isaiah was in the pool and he said, "Matthew, I'm right here if you need me. You can do it!!" It was so sweet and I felt so grateful that these boys are not only cousins but good friends too. What a blessing.

Andrew had a great time in the pool as well...

Isaiah on the slide...

During a swimming break we did our "dress up" photo. I have to admit, while I usually take mostly candid shots this is fully fabricated by me because I think the kids look so cute. I started it on Kaitlin's first 4th of July they are always my favorite photos of the day.

I'm not sure why Andrew was pouting in this photo. He seems to either make a silly face, grumpy face or pout in group photos lately. It's his "thing." He's actually a really happy little boy. You wouldn't think it looking at our family photos. He looks ornery!

My favorite photo of the day....

A 4th of July mug shot of Noah....

I think this picture is funny....

Andrew loving on Kaitlin....

Noah was not in a picture taking mood. But I did manage to capture his dazzling smile when playing a little game of "peek a boo" with him. He popped out from behind his Mama's chair and I got him!

We ended the day with homemade vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit. Even raspberries freshly picked from the back yard which were delicious.

Here's Andrew enjoying (and wearing) his ice cream....

Sadly, it was too windy to set off fireworks. We did let the kids throw Pop its so they had a little fun, but they were quite disappointed. So we went back to Mom's house and snuggled on the sofa and watched them on TV.

It was a very fun 4th of July. A BIG thank you to Dale and Glenda for such a great day!