Boy have things changed.... not necessarily better, not worse, just different. I'm the PARENT now! Weird. My boy stayed up way past HIS bedtime and while he had a blast, BML and I were exhausted!! We started our day off with some good old fashioned crafting...I'm pretty sure this was an idea on pinterest. P and I painted our hands and feet and made flags, he thought it was so much fun to be able to paint "mamu's" feet and made that request several times that day. We both had paint all over us for the bulk of our celebratory day.
*side note: I'm attaching pictures at the end because they are just on my phone and its easier that way, so scroll down for the cuteness.
About 20 minutes later, Aunt T and Yay Yay came in from their 6am bike ride and watermelon 5k ( T will tell you all about that I am sure). P showed off our drawings and we all got cleaned up to head out to brunch at KeKe's. Have those of you who live here been to KeKe's???? It is incredible. SO delicious, so clean, so fast, and kid friendly. P loves to sit outside on the little chairs built especially for him and sweet L. I think pancakes were the order of the day. Aunt T is in the photo, not Mamu...some people get confused. :)
Next activity! Make your own ice cream in a bag. This one once again took about 10 minutes - 20 total if you count eating and clean up time. Since P is constantly moving I do not know how he refuses a nap, its only 1pm and I can't wait for bed. The ice cream turned out pretty great, just mix half and half, sugar, and vanilla in a small ziploc, then place it inside a large ziploc, layer with ice and rock salt, toss around for 10 minutes and magic! Ice cream. I was pretty impressed with us, it was delicious. P had to wear oven mitts to throw the bags around, it got pretty cold. Then, I melted some chocolate chips in some coconut oil for our very own homemade magic shell. I know. Amazing.
Next up - the neighborhood parade. The only people who were definitely counting on were Grandad (Geendad, the Judge), LTD, Aunt T (FTD), P man, little L, LDL, BML, and Captain and Pax. Thats a parade in itself! We decorated L's radio flyer and put silly bows on the dogs, and dressed the family in their color appropriate outfits and went to set out around the lake....when the tv started screaming about a thunderstorm brewing that would spew hail and thunder and lightning and everyone should stay indoors. Not us! We amended our parade plans to just around the creek - there would be no rain on our parade! (Are you so proud of me Mom??) Some of our new friends met us with their baby and 2 yr old and our neighbors came along too with their newborn with his precious 4th of July ballooned stroller and off we went. It was quite a parade. Watch out next year for an evite...or I'll class it up with a paperless post.
Are you tired yet? I am. Wrap up our parade with a delicious flag cake made by LTD and BML, FTD, me, and P man were off to the neighborhood 4th of July party!!! No pictures, it was incredible. So fun to see all of our new friends in the area and all of their kiddos. Our family left a little early so we could make it back to 1127 to watch fireworks with LTD and the Judge and so little L could go to sleep. They were amazing, but the most fun was watching the wonder in P mans eyes as each firework exploded above him. Maybe that was why the 4th has always been my favorite, that at the end of the day, you are a hot, sticky, sweaty mess, but each moment was full of wonder, and independence, and a little bit of magic. P finally had enough and put fingers in both ears saying "all done! all done!" And we all passed out about the same time. Happy.
* second side note: I have no pictures of our parade, the party, or fireworks. But I bet someone else does...or I'll get them from yay yay and post soon.
