4th of July Recap

I know I have said this many times before, but this blog is a place for me to record the happenings in our lives, so I'm going to back up the July 4th weekend to give the recap (for my records!) I already posted the pictures last week, so this will just be "words"!

The Fourth of July weekend started with a parade at Open Arms. We really enjoyed this last year and I was looking forward to seeing the kiddos walking this year rather than riding in the big cart. Kevin’s car was having some work done on it, so I went to pick him up on the way to the parade. We were a bit late arriving (I think we pulled in the parking lot on 2 wheels) and joined the parade just as they were rounding the corner. Riley & Ryan were holding the “flag” that their class had painted. They were so cute! Ryan wasn’t so sure about all of the festivities, but he became very content once they got their popsicles. They absolutely loved eating them and it was so hot, so they helped to cool them off. They even went back for another one and the directors graciously gave them seconds. We later found that 2 popsicles is more than enough for Ryan…we had a nice orange pile on the carpet after we got home!

Friday was a great family day. School was closed as was both of our offices. We had a nice spaghetti dinner with the Fenzls for Kevin’s pre-race dinner. Saturday morning started bright and early as we headed to Buckhead to stake out our spot to watch Kevin run the Peachtree Road Race. This is the largest 10K in the US (60,000+ people run each year). We were able to park at my office and walk right out to watch for him. It was a party – completely with live music and many interesting “costumes” for the runners - all at 7am on a holiday! The kids loved it and were so excited to see Daddy. We didn’t anticipate the total meltdown by Ryan watching Daddy run off. Makes total sense, but it surprised me! We stayed a bit longer and then drove downtown near the finish line to pick up Kevin and head to parade #2 at the neighborhood. This parade had about 90 people – it has definitely grown over the last few years (remember our neighborhood is a baby factory). Riley did not want to sit in the wagon, so she walked almost the entire parade! I was amazed by her energy level, well not really I guess. After the parade was over we headed back to the house where Paul was out riding his motorized 4 wheeler. He let Riley and Ryan each have a turn and they were in hog heaven. They thoroughly enjoyed the wind in their face! Later that afternoon the Cannatas came down from our old neighborhood in Woodstock to join us and the Fenzls for a cookout and fireworks. The kiddos did great and stayed up to watch all of the fireworks! We go to the cemetery behind our neighborhood where we can see about 6 different fireworks shows all in the distance. For Riley & Ryan it was perfect – no smoke, no loud noise – and for us it was great because we didn’t have to fight the crowds and sit in traffic. They zonked out as soon as we got home. On Sunday we headed up to the Rabun’s house and had another great cookout. The kids loved playing with their “new” toys as well as their play set in the backyard. Overall a busy, festive and fun weekend!