4th of July 2011

Our 4th of July went something like this:

*Almost the whole family slept in -- that never happens. Well, except for Morgan who threw up at 6:00 in the morning.

*Late breakfast of pancakes, berries, and bacon.

*Hurried and rushed everyone to get dressed so we could head to the parade (I think 15 minutes for the whole family is a new record). Everyone was super decked out in lots of red, white, and blue.

*Fun time downtown at the Pasco parade. The twins didn't even cry at the loud noises or sirens which was a pleasant surprise. It was hot and sunny, but not too miserably hot. The kids got a satisfying amount of candy.

*Came home and put everybody to work cleaning house and working on the yard. (Well, everyone but the twins who were napping. Oh, and Morgan wasn't feeling well so he fell asleep.) Got everything festive and fun for our family BBQ later that evening.

*Welcomed family over for some of Riley's delicious chicken, burgers, hot dogs, and LOTS of other yummy food. Cake, ice cream cones, and other treats capped it off. My little sister and her two best friends surprised us with a visit as well which was a big treat.

*The kids entertained us with some songs and dances and other backyard antics. The babies ran around with wet clothes, then shirts off, then almost no clothes at all.

*After cleaning up and relaxing a bit we all moved blankets and chairs out to the front yard for some fireworks viewing. We didn't even have to wait for the big show to begin, we had plenty of illegal fireworks going off all over town.

*Enjoyed the fireworks show and the cool night air. Summer doesn't get much better than that.

It was a great day, so much in fact that I found that even with the "hustle and bustle" of it all I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Kendle even told me it was her best 4th of July yet! That's huge coming from her. I love my family, I love my friends, and I love this great country that we are blessed to call home.

Happy Birthday America from the Dodson's!!!

 

4th of July Weekend.......Surprise!

Last Thursday I happened to see a lady on craigslist that was trying to sell her reservations in Seaside Oregon for the 4th of July weekend. I decided to go way out of my comfort zone and plan something spontaneous to surprise the kids. She ended up taking our offer and it was a great hotel right on the beach. We were going to be in Portland until Sunday anyways and I thought why not just drive another hour or so to the beach, spend the night watching the most amazing fireworks show ever, and then spend Monday having fun too? We went for it.

Riley and Kendle headed to Portland on Friday for Riley's soccer tournament and I headed down the following morning with my mom and the three younger kiddies. We spent the day at Jer and Molly's house along with the rest of our family. Once again the kids had a blast all day long and Jer and Molly were wonderful hosts supplying us with yummy food and their lovely backyard to lounge in. That night we sat around the fire and watched the guys light off some fireworks. It was a perfect day and our kids were completely tuckered out. {Earlier, before my mom got ready to head back home, she offered to just take the twins with her to make the rest of our weekend trip easier and I'm so glad she did because I don't know if we could have made it otherwise. It helped SO much.}

Sunday Riley's team played in the championship for the Portland Cup (one of the biggest tournaments in the north west). Although they lost in a close, close game and Morgan was all over the place and I was up chasing him more than I got to watch, it was still fun to be there to support the girls and their hard work. After that we headed out of town but didn't tell the kids where we were going, only that it was a surprise. As we got closer to the coast I thought for sure Kendle would start picking up on where we were because of all the signs and billboards for the beach attractions. Finally we got into Seaside and had to tell them where we were and the kids started freaking out they were so excited. They love the beach!

That evening after dinner we let the kids swim and play for a while in the pool, then headed up to our room to change and pack our stuff to head to the beach for the big fireworks show. I don't think anything could have prepared us for the craziness that ensued that night. There were people as far as the eye could see up and down the beach lighting off fireworks and making bonfires. The fireworks never stopped, in fact we weren't sure we would be able to tell when the city fireworks show started because of all the other ones going on. Kendle loved it, Morgan hated it. He made us cover his ears the whole time. It was SO loud I don't really blame him! It was an endless barrage of whistles, cracks, booms, and explosions for a good two or three hours. I think our ears are still ringing but it was the coolest thing ever to see millions of fireworks all over the place. It was definitely an experience to remember. After the fireworks we went back to our room, had treats and snacks and then passed out.

We all slept like the dead until 9:00 the next morning. Even Kendle, who has never slept past 8:00 in her life. I had to wake everyone so we could get up and going. Our check out time was at 11:00 so we had to hurry to pack some fun in. Riley took the kids to the beach for an hour or so while I tried to pack up a bit and get myself ready. Then they went swimming one last time in the pool. After that we headed over to the main drag and had some lunch and then walked around and let the kids ride the tilt a whirl and bumper cars. One last walk on the beach, then some ice cream and a stop in the candy shop. We really know how to pack it all in! The traffic out of Seaside was horrible, but we still made really good time on the drive home. We stopped at my parents to get the twins and rest for a bit and then it was home again home again jiggety jig.

So glad to be home, but so glad we went out on a limb and made some amazing memories for our family that we will always remember! How many times can you say you packed in that much stuff into one weekend? Not always the way to do it, but this time it all worked out and we're glad it did.

Pictures:

(Kendle and her cousins at Jer and Molly's)

(Getting ready for the fireworks)

(The kids being very patriotic as they stood up to salute the firework called the "American" about to be lit)
(The three amigos)

(On the beach in Seaside watching the fireworks. Can you tell Morgan is enjoying himself?)

4th of July Desserts

I loved this roundup from the kitchn on making some patriotic inspired desserts for your 4th of July celebrations.

This blueberry star cake is beautiful:

And you can't go wrong with Ina Garten's flag cake:

Or if you're trying to take a healthier route, this fruit platter makes a

pretty display:

In the past we've also done simple things for the kids like patriotic colored star shaped sugar cookies and those red/white/and blue rocket popsicles are always a hit as well.

I wish I could be baking up some sweet treats for the 4th, but I'm busy packing for our weekend away in Portland. Riley's team is playing in the Portland Cup and we are making a family trip out of it. We'll be hanging out at my brother Jeremy's on Saturday - barbecuing it up in their gorgeous backyard, visiting, playing, doing some fireworks, and having a good old time. The kids are excited to play with their cousins and swim in the hotel pool. And we may just have a few surprises up our sleeve.......

Our grand old 4th of July Weekend

Friday Riley had the day off so we got up early, I made a big yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage and pancakes to get our motors running, and we headed outside to do a bit of yard work before it got too hot. It got "too hot" around 10:30 in the morning and we all gave up and came inside. It was a scorcher of a day. We relaxed inside and tried our best to stay cool. That evening we went to a BBQ at our friends the Gourley's house and enjoyed some yummy food while the kids had a great time playing and swimming in their pool. Luckily their back yard had plenty of shade so we parents not in the water could stay cool as well, even though we got splashed plenty of times. The kids has so much fun and were really tired when we got home. We got them in their jammies and put them to bed. Riley's mother came over and sat with them while we went to the movie theater to see "The Proposal". It was my first trip to the movie theater in over three or four months and we loaded up on the pop, popcorn, and candy just to make it worth our while. I was getting some fun baby movements in my tummy for that. The movie was really funny and we had a great time.

Saturday we got packed up to go to Pasco's 4th of July parade. We knew it was going to be another scorcher (100+) so we made sure to bring a cooler full of lots of ice cold bottled waters. Usually we sit down by Memorial Pool, but this year some friends convinced us to sit where they do by the Hospital which is the very beginning of the parade. It worked out well. It was far less crowded and we got out of there in great time - not to mention the kids got more candy than they usually do. (Thanks Howard's) Morgan got into the whole grabbing for candy routine this year and enjoyed contributing to Kendle's bag they were sharing. He also loved all of the big tractors in the parade. Good thing we brought all of those waters with us, because we drank almost every last one. We started heading for the car around 10:55 or so and it was already 90 degrees or higher. Here are some pictures from that morning:

That afternoon Morgan played in the kiddie pool for a while, Kendle said she was tired of the heat and didn't want to go outside. I couldn't blame her. I was tempted to sit in the pool with Morgan. Later that evening we had my parents and Riley's mom over for dinner. Riley got his grill fixed and he had been slow cooking some ribs for most of the day, we also grilled some salmon that was delicious. For dessert Riley requested I make these apple dumplings, so after dinner and resting from our full tummy's for a while I dished out some dumplings with vanilla icecream and we all oohed and ahhed over how full we were once again. After that we cleaned up the kitchen a bit, got some chairs and blankets and then headed to the front yard to get ready for the fireworks. We had some little snaps and sparklers that my mom brought for the kids, so we entertained them with those for a little while. Kendle kept asking me what time it was, and about the 12th time the fireworks finally began. I have to say, that I never get tired of the 4th of July and all of the celebrations and fireworks shows. I turn into a kid again while I'm watching all of the pretty explosions in the sky. Morgan thought they were pretty cool as well. Last year he was so tired he fell asleep half-way through and missed most of the good ones.

About the time the fireworks were ending Kendle started to get really cranky. We chalked it up to the fact that we had two super fun busy days in a row and she was just tired. Everyone helped pack things up from the yard and we got the kids to bed. After my parents left Kendle started crying and complaining that her ear hurt and she didn't feel good. She has this really dramatic cry that she does that is really hard to listen too, so we couldn't really tell if she was just trying to get some attention or if there was really something wrong. We all had been sick and feeling pretty bad for most of the week, and I thought she had shaken most of the yucky cold off so I was puzzled as to what was going on. We gave her some childrens Tylenol and said good night. In the middle of the night she kept waking up and yelling for us and kept crying really bad so we knew there was really something wrong. We were up every few hours with her and just trying to make it until morning when we could take her to the urgent care clinic. She was screaming that her ear hurt really bad and I knew she had an ear infection. Riley took her in around 8:30 Sunday morning and sure enough she had an ear infection, a 102 fever, and junk in her lungs. When Riley brought her home and we tried to give her the medicine for her ear she threw it up. Things were not looking very promising , but eventually we got her to eat a little toast and got some more medicine in her and she slept most of the day on the couch. She was a pretty miserable little thing, I felt so bad. She was also dissapointed because she was supposed to start swim lessons this morning. Luckily today is windy and cold so it wouldn't have been much fun anyways.

That was our weekend in a nutshell - I can't believe next year for the 4th of July we will have two more little ones in tow!

4th of July 2008

Friday the 4th we headed downtown Pasco for the annual 4th of July Parade. We sat right by the pool since Kendle had swimming lessons, and since hardly anyone showed up she got to go down the big loopty-loop slide a dozen or so times. After her lesson she came and joined us for the rest of the parade and made a valiant attempt to retrieve as much candy as possible. There wasn't a ton to be had this year, but she did score two coupons for a free milkshake at McDonalds. Not too shabby. Morgan didn't enjoy the parade so much, but did perk up a bit when the firetrucks and ambulances came by. Other than that he was content to look for sticks and rocks and try to run away. The parade weather was comfortably warm with a slight breeze, much better than it's been the last few years. I'm bummed I did not get a picutre of our family with everyone decked out in their red, white, and blue.

After the parade we grabbed some lunch and headed back home to get ready for the BBQ we were having that night. We had invited some friends and family over to celebrate with us and it turned out to be really fun. Riley grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers and we set out big tubs of pop and ice in our backyard. Thanks to our guests we had lots of yummy sidedishes, chips, cookies, popsicles, and icecream. It was fun to just eat, relax and visit with everyone. The kids had fun playing on the swing set (thanks Riley for finally fixing it) they played limbo with the garden hose, and probably drank enough pop and ate enough sweets to last them until Halloween. They also had fun with the bubbles we got them:

The little ones enjoyed chasing them around. I got a kick out of how excited the kids were and how well they all played together.

I guess you could say the suckers were a big hit as well:

We're thankful for all of our friends and family that came and helped make it a fun time.

After everyone headed out, we grabbed some chairs and blankets and sat out in the front yard with my parents and grandparents to watch the fireworks from the stadium down the road. Little did we know we'd be getting a second free fireworks show from our neighbors two houses down. And little did they know, that a police man had been sitting there watching them with his lights off for a good ten minutes before he came and busted them. I don't know if people are just ignorant, or think they are above the law, but the city ordinance banning fireworks seemed to be one of those pick and choose laws for a lot of people in our neighborhood and surrounding area this year.

It started to get a little breezy during the fireworks and we all had sweatshirts or were wrapped up in blankets. Morgan was very laid back, drinking his bottle and leaning on me while he looked at the big explosions in the air. He clapped and said "yay" a few times. The fireworks were beautiful and while we were watching them, my grandfather told Kendle the story about how Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star Spangled Banner". It made me think what it would have meant to live back in those times, and through the dirt and grit and horror of war, be overcome with hope and a renewed spirit to see the American Flag still waving high in the air after a desperate battle. My heart is thankful.

After the fireworks were over, my parents offered to take Kendle home with them for the rest of the weekend, (yay) so we packed her a bag and sent her off down the road with a smile on her face. I'm so thankful to live close to my family, and it makes me happy that my children love to spend time with them. All in all, it was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July, and I can't wait to do it again next year!