Once your children learn to spell you might as well just invest in a good thesaurus. CD knows a bit of Spanish but I know less than my kids. I can speak French but CD can't follow it well enough. So, we resort to elaborate language and hope the kids will never master the language well enough to understand.
We slept in yesterday (8am!) and had to hurry to get out the door in time to see the local Fourth of July parade. It hadn't helped that Bug's flag t-shirt was awol. We positioned ourselves in a new location, closer to the start of the parade route, in a nice shady spot. Then we collected candy. And more candy. And had parade participants throwing candy at the kids when they weren't even looking. And tossing it onto our blanket as if it were hot potatoes and they just wanted to be rid of it. I think I preferred the spot we sat at other years that was nearer to the end of the parade; most people were out of candy by the time they came past us. There was one float that threw toothpaste our way (sponsored by a dentist perhaps!?), but it reminded me of the home that gave out toothbrushes for Halloween when I was young. It made me feel like a mom and make me want to roll my eyes at myself.
We chilled out at home (usually we have to come home to chill out, literally, because of the heat, but the weather was wonderful yesterday) and prepared some great baked beans with no less than eight types of beans. Later in the day the kids and CD biked (and I drove with all our stuff) down the street for a party. There were about fifteen boys and four girls, all under the age of ~ten. One dad got into filling up water balloons and I think the kids forgot to eat. I watched a two year old holding his water balloon as if it were a bomb, carefully approaching a babysitter-looking teen. His glee when it burst at her feet was a wonderful sight.
Sometime before dark we lit and enjoyed no less than thirty-six packs of sparklers (six in a pack?) I had bought sparklers and small fireworks at a roadside stand, and others had brought a few too. I love watching them and can't resist buying them when I get the chance. I'm sure CD puts them in the "waste of money" category. I'm a wimp however, and won't light fireworks myself. We'd chosen some winners this year. I'd invested in the first four items marked "buy one get one" as items grew progressively more pricey, but I liked what I got. I'm partial to the colorful but quiet fountains. The kids liked the snappers.
We left the party before it was over, hoping to see the real fireworks at a nearby park. Due to a skinned knee on an already very tired five year old, we claimed a spot slightly after the first booms were heard (and a very fast dog was observed exiting-- I assume it was a dog, but I've truly never seen one run quite that fast!) I obtained a bandage from the fire fighters and the four of us snuggled together to watch. The area puts on an amazing show. They're shot from the other end of a kid-sized soccer field and the proximity makes them seem huge and particularly loud. Bug had asked for ear plugs in anticipation. For at least twenty minutes we enjoyed non-stop fireworks right above our heads and patriotic music just behind us.
Today was restful. It rained (I told the kids last night that it always rained after fireworks shook up the clouds, and at that time there was no rain in the forecast.) We watched Errol Flynn in Robin Hood, a movie we'd wanted to show the boys for a long time. Bug then spent the rest of the afternoon dressing up and playing either sword fight or bow and arrows with rubberbands.
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