So my Dad came down for the week to visit. It was so fun to see him. We had fun just hanging out, swimming in our little pool and getting ready for the 4th.
Shelby took to Grandpa right away and didn't even play shy, which was really nice. Here they were just playing and being silly and reading all the library books that we got!
We went down by the river to have lunch and feed the ducks. There were hundreds of ducks and geese and they took the bread right out of our hands! It was fun, and lunch was really yummy too!
Our family tradition is to sleep out in the tent on the night of the 3rd before July 4th. And my husband, of course, does not do ANYTHING half way. So we had the matteresses from our beds, and the TV and DVD player. We watch a movie then attempt to go to sleep with all the many fireworks going off till 1 in the morning! (I actually got kicked out of bed and couldn't sleep, so I went inside to my own bed!) You can tell that the kids love this tradition and how happy they were by that top picture of Riley kissing Emily... that would NEVER happen on just any old day! It is so fun. Then in the morning we get up and go to the parade, come home and take a nap, then off to the river to sit till the fireworks! This year Grandpa went down to the river early to save our spot - more like fight off everyone who wants to steal our spot! Then we go down about 5 and cook hot dogs, eat candy and just people watch! The fireworks are the best EVER, and totally worth waiting there for 5 hours! It was great fun this year having Grandpa with us. We even got to meet Jordans girlfriend Thresia! What a fun 4th of July!
Chaddy loves to set off fireworks. We did our own the night before the 4th. Shelby was scared at first, but by the end she loved them. They loved to hold the sparklers, and this one firework called a snake. But it was very fun!
It took some convincing, but finally the girls were able to hold the sparklers and know that they wouldn't get hurt. I was the same way too!
So on the 4th down by the river they had a little carnival thing. There was facepainting, but it was 5 bucks a face, um, no thank you. But the kids wanted to have their face painted. So on Monday I bought some face paints. This was our first attempt. Since then, I have tigers running around my house... and of course the neighbours want to have their face painted, so, it's a whole coven of tigers around here!!
So Emily's birthday was on June 24th. We celebrated in Boise when we were there. But she has a good friend Abby, whose birthday is on June 29th. They have the same friends so we decided to have a joint birthday party! It was fun. Abbys mom made a unicorn pinata which was very cool. I made this rainbow cake out of cupcakes. It was a hit and very easy for the kids to eat! I can't believe Emily is 5!! Crazy.
Well some of the fun that we've been doing this summer is some good ol' fashioned fishing! We take the kids down to a little creek, or just down to the Snake River (where yes, I did catch my very first real live 12 inch fish on my daughters fishing pole using bread as bait!), and the kids love to look at the fish they "caught" (daddy usually catches it and the kids real it in).
Wow you had alot to blog about! I love all the pictures! I am glad my kids knew nothing of the traditional camp out before the 4th or my kids would have been begging me to set up our tent and do the same thing! The rainbow cake turned out great! But you know me and cupcakes! I do have an obsession!!! Congrats on your first fish! The first time I ever caught a fish it was with my bare hands! I thought I was picking up a shiny rock in the water and came up with a fish instead! Sounds like your 4th was way more fun than mine! Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteJessica you make me laugh. Actually really hard. I think if there is one thing in the world you can do, it is "rainbows". It's good to see that the only thing you can draw or color if your life depended on it, has now transferred over to your baking abilities. What other areas of your life are going to involve rainbows now? I'm thinking that you should start wearing multi-colored layered clothing, or maybe your hair. How about your house? You could paint the outside like a rainbow, all of such suggestions would fit nicely with your personality! The neighborhood kids would refer to you as "the crazy rainbow lady down the street", ...or maybe they already do?
ReplyDeleteOh, and another thing that makes me laugh? Your Dad, geeze I miss that guy!
Love Ya!
-The Walkers
Ohhh Fun! Loved the post! So many pictures! I LOVE your rainbow cake! it is soooo great! David is soo funny....did you draw him a rainbow or something sometime?? So great! :)
ReplyDeleteSo I had so much more to say, I was just in a hurry. I love your face painting! I couldn't do that. And I love your tradition of going out in a tent. Chad is too funny ;) I am sure the kids had fun though. Also, go look at my blog again, ok....I also forgot something cause I was in a hurry. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteI hate the air mattress and we quite often take our mattress off our bed to be comfortable. We also have a portable DVD player that we use to watch movies. What a great family tradition. I would love to come to the 4th of July fireworks sometime. I went to them as a kid but that was SOOooooo long ago...lol.
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