Independence Day 2008
Yesterday was a relatively fun day, pretty low-key & mostly mosquito-bite free. The in-laws are in town now & we all got together for some 4th of July festivities that was pretty entertaining, thanks to Logan & Cousin B having the time of their lives.

A few weeks ago Bill & I had talked about packing a picnic dinner & some toys to take to City Park to enjoy the firework display much like we did last year. Bill's family is TERRIBLE at both planning & communication, so we agreed to make a plan & invite them to come along. If they came, great, if not, then we would meet up with them some other time. The big thing is that plans with them (specifically Aunt Ju-Ju) never follow through & Logan is left disappointed. There's been more than one occasion where we've told Logan we were going to play over at Cousin B's house only to find out that plans have been canceled (for whatever reason) & then we have to break the news to him that we in fact are no longer going. We can't even tell him we're going until we get him in the car seat & are on the drive over. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands & do the planning & inviting, knowing that we are good at keeping our word & schedule.

Somehow those plans got changed. Imagine that.

We had a relaxing morning just hanging out at the house & Bill had been on & off the phone with his family since Grandma & Grandpa L were driving from out-of-state & would arrive later that evening. Aunt Ju-Ju had made arrangements for all of us to watch the fireworks at one of her friends' very expensive (non-childproofed nor friendly) downtown loft since they were out of town. It was proposed that we do this so we could "avoid the crowds & mosquitoes". Well, I was looking forward to having a family picnic in the park where Logan & Cousin B could run to their hearts content, play with balls & throw frisbees, not worry about spilling food or getting messy & be right there in the heart of the action to watch the fireworks with the city symphony & all. I didn't mind that the entire town would be there. It was fun last year & I thought it would be fun this year, too. I guess I was the only one.

So, we ate dinner at home & met over at Aunt Ju-Ju's house for a little bit while we waited for Grandma & Grandpa L to arrive. Logan played with bubbles out in the front yard & watched Bill & Uncle J throw a frisbee back & forth in the middle of the street (because their yard isn't big enough). Logan wanted to go out in the street to play with them (great example, huh!) & they threw it to him on the sidewalk a few times. Logan also got to ride Cousin B's big wheel while he was napping inside.

The Grandparents arrived, Aunt Ju-Ju woke up Cousin B from his nap & we got the kids in the wagon for a walk over to the loft. It was a short walk about three blocks away. The kids had fun riding in the wagon & Logan was talking up a storm. We got to the loft (which was very nice) & saw that we would have a nice view of the fireworks. Right away the kids found a skateboard & longboard & tried to ride them around in the kitchen. We eventually had to go put them in another room since they were slamming them into the walls.

The most fun part of the evening was when the family was playing blowing on the Wii while the kids ran around screaming & laughing when each person came up to bowl. They were so excited, chasing each other from one end of the loft to the other & being loud little monkeys (thankfully the lofts are sound-proofed). The played with motorcycles & cars (that we had to continually tell them not to put on the expensive coffee table), but mostly ran around like crazy hooligans. It was hilarious.

When it was time for the fireworks, we all went out on the balcony where we had a nice, distant (but not too distant) view. Logan was fascinated with them, naming colors & just wouldn't stop talking -mostly excited gibberish. It was like his brain was going faster than his mouth. I loved it & so did he. He also saw every single plane that flew by & made sure to announce it to everyone. We must have seen at least six or seven. If it weren't for Logan's constant talking, it would have been a very quiet firework viewing (kind of boring, if you ask me).

After the show was over, we packed everything up, made sure to get the smooshed raisins out of the rug & headed on back to Aunt Ju-Ju's. We didn't stay & visit since it was 10:00 & way past Logan's bedtime. We said our good-bye's & drove home, passing the crowds of cars leaving the City Park celebration.

So, we didn't have a horrible time, although it could have been more fun & kid-friendly. The thing that irked me was that our plans changed because it wasn't what Aunt Ju-Ju wanted to do (we always do what she wants). I'll totally agree that the mosquitoes are bad this year, but for cryin' out loud - that's what bug spray & citronella is for. I was just thinking like a mom, planning a fun time at the park for the kids. I hope we can go with this idea next year.

The in-laws will be here for a few more days, so I'm sure that's all that will be on the blog until they leave. Good times people, good times.