The 4th of July

The 4th of July is the best! The kids helped me decorate their bikes for the neighborhood 4th of July bike parade the night before. Benson *helped* fix Lindy's bike, while Miles actually did. :) He has had to become so handy with bikes because A. I don't know how to, and B. Richie does but frequently does not have the time. So although his efforts are not always conclusive, he usually gets it right 90% of the time. He feels so proud, and so do I! :)

I cheered the kids on during the parade and then we had breakfast with our neighborhood. It's one of my favorite things that happens all year. I just wish we sang a patriotic song before we ate, so that I could have a good cry. :)

When we got home, Miles pointed out to me that I forgot to provide water balloons (like I typically have in the past). So to bridge the time between then and night, Richie set up an awesome obstacle course in our backyard, and then turned on the sprinklers. Gwen and her neighbor friend loved it, Lindy loved it till she fell off a beam and got a sweet goose-egg over her eye, Benson was napping, and Miles was almost too-cool-for-school.

Half way through the day, I realized I should have called Ben and Becca to join in our festivities. So we threw a dinner together last minute and had a great time together. The kids played video games and watched shows, while Richie and I talked with B&B. Then we lit our traditional (minimal) fireworks of pop-its and sparklers. Not super exciting, but our neighbors did put on their annual, epic fireworks party the night before, so we got to see some good fireworks then.

We went to bed happy, dirty, and exhausted.