This was one of those days when I questioned if it's OK to go to the bathroom, ever. 'I was getting a snack!' She told me happily after I took the knife away. This independent, happy two-year-old just might be the end of me.
Independence Day is one of my favorites. Full of festivity, fun, and heroes. We usually try to find a parade and some fireworks, but have spent in a new area every year lately, so it's also a great time to explore some of the local fairs. This year was no different. We started with some flag toast and red sprinkle eggs (Olivia insisted that the eggs needed to be festive too, and she didn't want salsa, so we improvised).
This year was a digging effort to find fun red, white and blue outfits for everyone, but they turned out great, and made me question the need for forethought when it comes to holiday outfits. Here are the girls who were super excited to have sister pictures and matching hair for the day.
I can't take credit for the hair, it is an adaptation of a 'Cute Girl Hairstyles idea. Many thanks to more creative moms who can come up with things for me to copy!
Sibling pictures weren't perfect, and brother pictures were a no go, but that is how things go with 4 under 7. We just get what we can and have fun doing it.
Poppers and sparklers in the driveway were our level of fireworks this year, but we had plans for a big show in the evening, so it worked out as a pre-parade activity. None of the kids were big sparkler fans except Olivia, who loved the idea of burning her name into a piece of plywood (thanks Dad for the idea...). I'm a little afraid for her as she gets older :)
An early lunch of flag veggie tray and flag fruit salad before heading to the parade. I'm aware that I may have overdone it in the flag food department, but I love doing it, so I will probably continue to add something every year.
7 miles north of Pullman is a tiny town (with no cell reception) called Albion, which hosts the only parade in the area. I love small town parades (anything with as many school buses and log trucks as other entries reminds me of home) so we drove out and were thrilled that we could park literally on the parade route, which was one of 2 roads going through town.
The kids were hopeful in each bringing their own candy bags, but they totally needed them...LOTS of candy came their way.
It was a complete parade, with firetrucks, farm animals, loud soupped-up cars, princesses on horses, and pooper scoopers. We got a quick family picture at the end which is one of my favorite from the summer, I love their little pink cheeks and excitement over the candy they are about to eat :).
After naptime we were just hanging out until the evening, but I set a no-home-project rule for the day, so we had some free time and decided to make the pinecone bird feeders I have been promising the kids for a month or so. They did their part and gathered 200ish pinecones (picking them up off the patio, so win-win) and I picked up the birdseed. I'm just hoping that all of the seeds are human safe because Hunter wasn't willing to share with the birds if it was hung in his reach :).
Right around dinner time we walked down the hill and rode our first city bus to the Pullman Firework Spectacular at the city park. The kids were super excited about the bus, and I had heard it was a good solution to the parking troubles, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, in the craziness of unloading 4 kids, 2 strollers, 3 bags, and a huge umbrella, the diaper bag (with my wallet) and the big shade umbrella that we use for all of our sporting events got left on the bus. After we walked the 1/2 mile from the bus stop to the park and started getting ready for dinner, I sent Alex back to see if they were recoverable. Thank goodness for a small town and good people who set it aside until we got back to it :) crisis averted!
Hot dogs, hamburgers, and huge slices of watermelon were a perfect dinner on this 90+ degree day, and the kids didn't know what to do with watermelon slices (I usually cut cubes) so Alex and I had a show to go with our dinner :).
I love this picture, which Alex took about 15 minutes before fireworks. Carter is asleep, Hunter (not pictured) is asleep, and Olivia definitely should be, she has reached zombie mode :).
Fireworks were great, and the kids had a blast dancing to the local band that played all evening, so afterwords (at about 11) we walked the half mile (in the wrong direction) to the bus stop for pickup. The City of Pullman was pretty unprepared for the crowd of people all wanting to get on a bus at the same time (no one was really sure of the routes or stops and there was a total of 3 buses), so after discussing it with a few people in charge, Alex and I decided the walk home (about 2 miles) would take less time than waiting for the bus. We were extra glad for our setup of 2 double strollers as we made the trek back. All of the kids fell asleep one by one, and O was the last to hold on, lasting until the last push uphill. It was kind of fun to have the 45 minute walk (up and down major hills the entire way) to just chat with Alex, but we will do the whole parking thing different next year :).
After we got all the kids in their beds and bags unloaded, Alex and I crashed at 12:30 and got ready for the next day. When we woke up I realized that baths had to happen first thing...Hunter was not the dirties of the kids ,and this was his legs...all of the kids (and all of their sheets) went into the wash :).
The rest of the week is a blur of packing and loading for one trip (Black Butte) while gathering for a second big trip (Twin Lakes) that was just a few days after we got back. The kids and I had a fun break when I took them to a free movie for kids one morning. Most would probably say that 4 kids at the movie (2 of which have a hard time sitting for a movie) isn't a great idea for one parent, but I am just grateful for patient people around us who chat with Hunter as he makes his rounds, and an older daughter who loves when I put her 'in charge' halfway through the movie to go change diapers.
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