happy 4th

yes, i know! it is the 6th now, but i didn't get a chance to sit down on the 4th, or the 3rd for that matter to write anything.

our little town of sugar hill has a celebration the night before, on the 3rd. they hold it at the town park, with food vendors, blow-up jumping slides, a live band, fireworks (a must!) followed by a movie.

rachel went ahead of us to get a spot (thanks rach!). when i got off work we picked up food and headed over. we ate, jumped and slid on the slides (okay, only xander did that. although cassidy was charging to get in there and try it for herself!) threw the frisbee and the football. we saw lots of friends from churchand even convinced some of them to sit with us for a few mintues.

the fireworks were great. a large variety, lots of color, some new ones i'd never seen before. they were able to last for a whole 30 minutes. not bad for a little town. and all the while patriotic music played in the background. of course, they had lee greenwood's "proud to be an american". that one is a must and i may have protested if it wasn't included in their play list.

the highlight of the night was xander. todd brought him "brave sprite" (as this was the place that "brave sprite" came to be last year). before they even started the fireworks xander has his fingers in his ears. todd convinced him that he was holding him, they weren't that loud and that he was okay taking his fingers out. slowly he put his hands in his lap and before i knew it i was hearing him laugh and yell "bang" as each one went off. when they were over he came to me and said "i don't have to call it brave sprite anymore. i can just call it regular sprite".

cassidy stayed awake the whole time and watched most of the fireworks while sitting on my lap or various postitions as she wiggled and crawled all over me. her comments as she watched, "aww cute" and "wow".

todd had to work on the 4th, so rachel and i headed to the pancake breakfast with the kids. bringing along xander's scooter decorated fo the parade. i had wanted to decorate and bring the wagon for cassidy, but it wouldn't fit in rachel's car. thankfully, my dear friend michelle noticed cassidy was sitting with me at the start of the parade and quickly put her in a wagon with her daughter. they didn't look very excited at being pulled around in a circle, that is until they got "pop pops" at the end. michelle's husband pulled them around the park for another 15 mintues and they were perfectly content to be chauffeured around.
after the breakfast we took some much needed downtime (as i don't think we had stopped since sometime two days earlier what with a busy day off wednesday, spending the night at grandma & grandad's, putting in a full day at school, "sparks in the park" celebration and then pancake breakfast) -

so after resting a bit we went to the pool(s). first we hit the pool in george and pam's neighborhood. (the in-laws) rachel and a friend of hers came with us (or technically i went with rachel since she was the one with the car) and we swam there. xander got to play with a new friend and enjoyed being thrown into the pool (by an adult, not by the new friend). then we pool hopped and went to my friend melissa's parent's pool. well okay, her parents are my friends too, but melissa invited us. we were there for several hours. we got to hang with some of our good friends, the galts, bowmans, coopers and cheeks, and xander got to spend hours in the pool playing "divers" with makayla. cassidy loved the swing hung under the porch and spent a good bit of time in there, yelling for me whenever she slowed down and needed another push.
we ended the night back at george & pam's for dinner and a movie. george had set up an outdoor theatre, but at the threat of a thunder storm we moved it inside. settling into a dark room on comfy couches is dangerous when you are tired. needless to say we all slept pretty well that night.

all in all a good fourth! (just wish xander hadn't decided that he'd had enough fireworks the night before cause i totally would have searched out another showing. i love fireworks!)