4th of July Festivities

All winter as I trudged through a foot of snow carrying Lucy in an infant carrier, as I bundled us each in thermal underwear and fur-lined coats, every time I scraped a thick layer of ice off my van, I dreamed of a weekend like this past weekend.  It was perfect.  The epitome of summer.  A little taste of heaven.  

Saturday

On Saturday, we stayed home most of the day.  I did a huge portion of the housework that needed to be done and Justin did lots of yard work.  When Lucy went down for her afternoon nap, I finally cashed in the mani/pedi gift card Justin got me for Mother's Day.  And when I got home we went to Golden Corral to celebrate the healing of my mouth. :-) I paid for that later, but I'll spare you the details. ;-)

Sunday

Then Sunday, the festivities began.  After church, we went to my parents' house for an all day party.  We always have a ramshackle group of friends, family, and a few stragglers. This year I think we counted 23.  There was a ton of great food (meatballs, ham, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, cookies, fruit, veggies, cake, rice krispie treats - you get the idea).  We chowed down then headed out to the pool. 

A couple weeks ago, we brought Lucy to Justin's grandparents' pool.  She loved playing on the steps and didn't care at all that it was cold.  But when Justin jumped off the diving board, she freaked out.  Apparently she's afraid of splashing?  Well believe it or not, 7 boys and 2 girls under the age of 17 create a bit of splashing.  So Lucy was terrified.  I hate that she has my nervous tendencies.  I don't want her to deal with that all her life. :-(  She was so scared she was visibly shaking.  Poor baby.  She did play in the baby pool for a little while, but it took some coaxing.

She took a very short nap, we played some cards, stuffed our faces some more, the kids and men played some Ultimate Frisbee, we had s'mores, and then got out the fireworks.  I put my foot down and refused to let Lucy play with a sparkler.  (Remember my aforementioned nervous tendencies?)  She wasn't interested anyway, since it was already 2 hours past her bedtime and she was exhausted.  

After sparklers, it was time for the driveway show.  I think I blog about this every year, but I am not a fan of fireworks.  And this year confirmed why.  Not once, but two times a firework got out of control and shot into the crowd.  Mike had to save us all and jump in front of one of them.  His leg seriously looks like it took a bullet.  Fortunately no one else was seriously hurt, but I rest my case that they are too dangerous to be fun. 

The good news is, Lucy snuggled up against me at the beginning of the show and completely slept through all the screaming, shrieking, and blasting.  I could not believe it!

Monday
Lucy slept 'til 8:45 this morning.  Libby says that's not sleeping in, but when you have a toddler, anything past 7:30 is sleeping in!! Haha.  After a quick morning nap and lunch at Taco Bell, we headed out to Justin's grandparents' house.  They have a nice in-ground pool, and we were the only ones there, so we thought Lucy would enjoy it.  Wrong.  Apparently she's traumatized.  Again, she played for a little while in the baby pool as long as my legs were in it with her and no one made any sudden movements. 

We had another great day with family, eating, playing cards and bananagrams, and swimming in the pool (at least some of us enjoyed it).  

It was a great weekend and its memory promises to get me through another long hard winter in just a few months.