Happy Independence Day from the South y'all!
We had a jam-packed 4th of July celebration that started with a bang at the Pinehurst Village parade. After I forced the family to wear coordinating red, white, and blue outfits we met up with some friends from our ward, the Bassetts, who have a girl named Jane who is Lucy's age, and a boy named Grant (who Zach calls "Grunt") and is Zach's age. We quickly nabbed a spot on the parade route and got ready for candy!
Leah looked so cute in her red tutu and sparkly red shoes, she was SO happy to be out and about with the big kids I was amazed we kept her in the stroller at all. She is growing up waaaay too fast! I can't believe she'll be 2 in a couple of months.
We enjoyed our little small-town parade, which is a short and sweet affair-- it only goes down one street and lasts probably 30 minutes total, but there was some fun decorated antique cars, beauty queens, bagpipe players, lots of local businesses, and many, many politicians.
In fact, there was even this guy at the Pinehurst parade-- the one and only Clay Aiken from American Idol!! With the voice of an angel! He is running for congress and was parading with the Moore County democrats when my friend Whitney recognized him. I was like, "We should go get our picture with him when the parade is over!" So as soon as it finished (we were right at the beginning) we booked it over to the end of the parade, and she ran right up to him and asked him to take a picture with her. I motioned to him like "can I have a picture too?" and even though he was still in the parade he waved me over and was like, "Yes!" So all in all, he was very gracious, gave me a hug, and completely made my Independence Day. Aching for Aiken! Too bad I look like such a goober in this shot, but I was a little star struck.
Family photo opp after the parade, right after my Clay sighting. Sigh! After the parade we ran over to the church to clean the chapel (our turn on the rotation), then got lunch at Jimmy John's. Later that evening we were having our friends the Durtschis over for a BBQ.
They came over at about 6 p.m. and the party started! We had delicious hamburgers and hot dogs, patriotic jello, chips and salads, and what's more American than rootbeer? All the kids together-- Leah, Lucy, Lizzie, Will, and Zach.
Just the girls! 7.4.2014
Poor Leah's cute little piggies didn't survive her nap, but she still looked pretty patriotic to me!
After we ate dinner the kids played out in the sprinkler for awhile until it cooled down a bit, and then we took the party out back to have a campfire and roast s'mores. We had 4 different kinds of chocolate, plenty of marshmallows, and some seriously yummy s'mores! The kids loved it.
Lucy and Lizzie are such nice friends-- we are really sad they're being stationed in Oklahoma in September. I think I might cry when they leave!
Leah was fascinated by the fire and liked helping Jon roast the mallows, while we waited for it to get dark enough for fireworks. We opted not to go to the big display in town, but bought a $20 pack of our own at WalMart and the kids LOVED it. Leah and Will clapped for all of the fountains and we had a really fun, relaxing night with friends saying Happy Birthday America!
The great debate was whether or not we should try and go to the beach the next day. The kids had been up late the night before, and I had to be at the gym to teach by 8:30 a.m. The weather wasn't supposed to be that great due to a tropical storm blowing in, so we were really on the fence about it. About 10 a.m. I finally decided we'd better just do it and make the most of our last weekend together before the kids and I head back West. We hit the outlet malls for a little birthday power shopping spree, and then headed to da beach.
It was SUPER windy and the waves were crazy big, but it was still so nice to just sit and relax while the kids played. I didn't feel pressure to make them stay too long since we wanted to get back home at a decent hour to put them to bed, and it ended up being just right.
Zach is our little sand monster and without fail ends up with more sand on him than the rest of us combined! I think he rolls around in it.
How can it be a bad weekend when you end up with your toes in the sand at some point?!? After a quick dinner at Zaxby's we headed back north towards home. I'm glad we decided to go after all-- the kids all ended up falling asleep on the drive home, and Jon and I got some downtime to sit and talk during the drive. It was a fantastic way to celebrate our country's humble beginnings, and how grateful we are for the many, MANY freedoms we are able to enjoy as a result of living in the good ol' USA!
