Our 4th of July

Here are some highlights from our day, including our trip to view the fireworks:


The kids were sitting on the couch eating a special snack when Tyler yelled. We looked over to find Danielle, grinning broadly, repeatedly stabbing Tyler's big toe with her fork.


We went to the store today to look at appliances for our new house. We want something that doesn't show a lot of fingerprints, so we were checking out the appliances that resemble stainless steel but are made of a different material. It's hard to tell the difference between the new material and stainless, so Ron asked Tyler to stick his hand on the refrigerator to see if it left prints. It was still hard to tell, so Ron jokingly suggested Tyler lick his hand and try again. Since Tyler is such an obedient little boy, he obliged and we all laughed. Later Ron and I were discussing something, and I momentarily had my back to the kids. When I realized it, I turned around to find both kids licking their hands and sticking them on every door of every stove in our aisle.


We watched the fireworks from a parking lot this year. Not nearly as nice as walking out our back door, but we still had a nice time. When we first pulled into the lot, it was raining steadily. We figured it would stop raining before the fireworks, though, so we waited. We were only there maybe 15 minutes when Tyler suddenly got a panicked look on his face and the van filled with a foul odor. Yep, he had to go. Ron grumbled about having to drive all the way home. I handed him an umbrella and suggested they try to find a port-a-pot. He and Tyler headed out. Several minutes later the boys returned (as pictured). They found a port-a-pot, but Tyler would only pee.

The rain finally stopped and we enjoyed our sparklers. You know how sometimes it takes a minute for your brain to decipher something you've just heard? Well, in between sparklers Tyler suddenly yelled, "See my butt! See my butt!" In the split second it took me to register what he said, he managed to pull down his shorts and underwear and moon the truck driving by us. What possesses this kid to do such things? We finished the rest of the sparklers without incident.

At this time, Tyler again got that panicked look on his face. It was too dark and too close to fireworks time to trek off for the port-a-pot this time. I had some bags and, well, I tried to improvise. (Sorry, this is not for the weak of stomach.) After hurriedly getting the bags positioned just right (in the dark), he only peed. A little frustrated, I explained that being a boy, he could pretty much go whenever/wherever he needed to go, so there was really no need for all the bags if he was only going to pee. I triple bagged it and sat back down. Just about that time Danielle decided she needed to pee, too. I pulled off her shoes, pants, and underwear, placed her between our two chairs, and stuck Tyler in front of her. I thought she could just go quietly and we could move on. Nope. Tyler started yelling, "She's going to pee on me! She's going to pee on me!" Once she started to go, it changed to "Ahhh! She's peeing on me!" Thank goodness it was dark.

Finally the fireworks started. Tyler absolutely loved them! His face lit up and he squealed with delight. He reclined against Ron and never took his eyes off the show. It was so worth the wait just for his reaction. (Danielle was afraid of the booms and was not quite as delighted.)

We actually had a pretty good 4th of July and managed to create lots of lasting memories. Hope you all had a good holiday, too.