Fish Family Files: Our July 4th Weekend

I'm a week late, but better late than never! We had such a fabulous 4th! Long weekends are always my favorite weekends, but this one was extra good! Since the 4th was on a Saturday this year, I got Friday off. (Woohoo!) Andy worked a half day, so the boys and I went strawberry picking with my mom and Anna in the morning. The season is essentially over, and I didn't want to miss out on one of my favorite summer activities! I'm so glad my mom and sister were there! It's harder than I though to carry a baby and bend down to pick strawberries. ;) I'm going to let the pictures do the talking. There's a lot of 'em!

We missed Andy, but we still had a blast! Josh loved his first strawberry! Though we have yet to find a food he doesn't love. :)

The weather was perfection on Friday, so we decided to go to my cousin Jim's pool in the early evening. It was Josh's first dip in the pool. We think he liked it! Our time at the pool started out with a scare though. Andy and I were putting sunscreen on Josh, and Ben saw a ball in the pool that he apparently needed. He walked down the steps and just kept going. Andy jumped in to get him immediately, but it was still awful! He was scared too and kept saying, "sorry, daddy!" It was not a great start to our first pool trip of the summer, but it was all good after this.

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning. We had to plan for the parade! Andy went ahead to save a spot for us. Both boys were still sleeping when he left! We had been going to our current city's parade for the past several years, but this year, we went to the parade that I went to as a kid. (aka the best parade!) It went in the reverse order this year, which threw me off a bit, but it was still great!

Ben is not a fan of loud noises, so he was less than excited when the parade started with ambulances and fire trucks!

He recovered quickly. I'm sure the donut helped.

Gosh I love him so much. I couldn't pick a favorite pic. Josh was an absolute angel during the parade. Well, and all the time.

After the parade, it was nap time for the boys before the next round of fun. After their power naps, we went to the park where they always have games and other activities going on for the kids on July 4th. It is right behind my mom's house, so we walked there from her house. Ben was more interested in playing with the balls that he brought though. :)

This is the life!

It was another picture perfect day. After our trip to the park, we went to dinner at the racquet club with my mom, John, Anna, and Chad. It was a fabulous spread. Of course, Ben was more interested in the desserts and the other kids. He watched the kids in the pool for almost the entire time.

I most definitely could not pass up a festive drink!

We attempted a family picture after dinner. Too bad I have no idea how to photo shop the boys heads so I could have 2 smilers. Cute nonetheless!

All of the following pictures make me laugh… At least I was photo ready the entire time. Hah! Better luck next year! Or I'll learn to photoshop.

After Ben's huge dinner of 3 bites of fruit, he was ready to swim. Everyone else was eating dinner, so he had the pool almost to himself. He got in some quick relaxing with Josh first.

But this guy isn't one to sit back and watch, so it was pool time for him! After a quick flex break, that is.

A pool + a basketball + daddy? This is what Ben's heaven looks like.

We were undecided all day as to whether or not we were going to go to the fireworks. Ben did NOT enjoy them last year, so we didn't know how this year would go. He was pretty tired after his busy day, but he was still in a good mood, so we just went with it. We went back to my mom's after swimming and used the sparklers that we traveled all over town trying to find. Ben was only moderately interested.

We relaxed in the backyard until it got dark out. I don't have any pictures of the big event, but Ben did just fine. We could see them from the backyard, so we just stayed there. They were a little blocked by the trees, so Ben went to the park (with everyone else) while Andy and I stayed back with Josh who had finally fallen asleep in his car seat. Ben was scared but brave! I'm sure next year will be even better!

We didn't get home until after 10:00!! I don't believe Ben has ever stayed up that late! Both boys slept in! It was amazing! We decided to go to the pool again on Sunday. Ben has become quite the fish in his little puddle jumper!