Our adventures started on June 30 with an event that actually has nothing to do with America's birthday, but was an important milestone in this family's history... first stitches for one of our kids!
The day started off well with a visit to see Daddy and Cade at Elite Camp.
Adventurous Annie climbed up a handrail on the ramp that leads from the track up to the field house. Her mother-of-the-year was talking to someone, so her climb went un-witnessed for a little while. So Annie apparently got a little braver and decided to try to climb all the way over the handrail. And that is when the great fall happened. It took me at least 10 minutes to run the few feet over to her, and I scooped her up so fast that I didn't even realize that she was bleeding until we got inside. Amazing athletic trainer Chelsea to the rescue... Annie got lots of attention in the training room, got all cleaned up, and was fixed up with purple liquid stitches just like the Cougars. And most importantly, she got her first Gatorade popsicle.
Tears dried quickly, and Annie set out to stop her parents' hearts again by using the weight equipment as a jungle gym. In an effort to keep both of her feet on the ground for 12 hours, we let her drink all she wanted out of the water cow (and get as wet as she wanted!) and eat a tasty lunch and dessert at Double Dave's.
The next day, Annie was healed enough to go to school for their July 4th parade. This precious patriotic event involves lots of crafts, a little singing, and plenty of patience.
That night, Chance and I celebrated freedom of another kind... freedom to go see Aaron Watson with the Goodletts! Thanks to Nana and Papa for our monthly date nights this summer. We had a great time with our friends! And we freely admit that we are older than we used to be when we saw Aaron Watson, so splurging on reserved seats was a necessity!
Our church holds a "Festival of the Fourth" each year on July 4 weekend, and we attended for the first time! While we were sad to miss celebrating Xavier's 9th birthday with him in Dallas this year (we've been there the weekend of July 4 ever since he was born!), it was fun to get to do College Station events this year. At the Festival of the Fourth, we sang patriotic hymns and then had tons of fun on water slides outside. Notice the soaking wet lady next to the slide when Annie comes down. That is Gwenda, our awesome director of children's ministry. Annie wouldn't come down the slide after her first time climbing it and neither Chance or I had worked up the nerve to rescue her, so Gwenda climbed in (with all her regular clothes on), plopped Annie down on her lap, and slid down. Then Annie did it about 100 more times. We owe Gwenda a lot of whatever she loves!
I do not enjoy talking about politics, so my scroll through facebook is pretty quick these days because Trump and Hillary are everywhere. I am a member of the first generation of parents in a long time who sometimes fear that our children do not have a better life ahead than we did. I'm thankful to live in a place where we can safely sing patriotic songs. These lyrics at the end of America the Beautiful really stuck with me, and I think we all need to sing/pray/speak them: "America, America, God mend thine every flaw. Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law." Only God can fix this.
Back to pictures of the children...
We started the morning of July 4 with some crafts that I found on Pinterest. The shaving cream fireworks were fun. They looked like they were going to be a disaster, but after drying for awhile, they have turned into cute cards that will be mailed to Uncle CJ while he is deployed! The toilet paper roll fireworks were more challenging, and we needed much stronger rolls. But the kids had fun and got messy, so the mission was accomplished!
Then, we were so American/DIY that we made our own laundry detergent! We actually started the process a few days ago, and it took FOREVER to grate 3 bars of soap. Cade was about one-sixteenth into the first bar when he asked, "Do we really need 3 of these?!". Chance went on a grating marathon to put Cade out of his misery, so all of the ingredients were ready. The assembly and mixing was pretty fun!
Here is the finished product! We love it so far!
After Annie's nap, we braved the heat and went fishing at Central Park. Since the kids were getting to stay up much later than usual for the fireworks later, we had time for tons of activities!
Finally, it was time for the fireworks! We watched them from the parking lot from my building at work, and it was perfect. Plenty of space for the kids to run around and easy egress when it was over. Cade was thrilled that Garrett and his family joined us and was completely enthralled with the fireworks show. The only thing Annie liked about the whole evening was getting to stay up late. She did not like the fireworks at all (even in the comfort of Daddy's lap), and told us, "We shouldn't have come here" in a very serious voice. I'm sure she'll come around next year!
Happy Birthday, America!
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