Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth to you!

It was a wonderful day in our neighborhood.  A hot day, but a wonderful one.  We braved 95 degree heat to mingle with neighbors and crowd into whatever shade we could find, waiting for rocket car rides.

It is one of the highlights of the year for our boy-- he's been talking about it since before Easter.  This year, Melinda and Tiffany and their families, as well as Gram and Bec, joined us for Rocket Cars and mingling.
We zipped through the neighborhood, wind in our hair, waving to passers-by, feeling like we'd stepped back in time. And in between, we showed off our springers and drank water like it was going out of style.

We fed 8 adults and 6 children for lunch before our little group walked back around the corner for the magic that is the Somerton parade.

Jack, once again, was not up to riding in the parade.  Too much pressure for our little perfectionist.  We did follow the parade for a while, and we did join in with the sing along patriotic songs at the end (yes, there is a patriotic sing along...)  And then we collapsed in Alissa and Suz's front yard and chatted about kindergarten with other parents, as the kids played in the water slide and made bracelets and held up like troupers in the heat.

Oh yeah, and there was a bounce house.  We have one happy boy here!

We hid in the comparative cool of our house until our friends came back over around 5 for evening festivities in our yard.  I do love the mixing and mingling and togetherness of the block party, but I have to say that I treasured this evening's time, cocooned in the shade of our backyard with some of my favorite people in the world.

Seriously.  I love these people.  It was the perfect, absolutely-no-effort Fourth of July Party.  Meat on the grill, a serve-yourself table of bounty, drinks and kiddie pools to put our feet in, and these beautiful children of ours, playing so well together, eating around the table, growing before our eyes.

Happy Independence Day.  It's a beautiful country we live in.

Mostly because we have an air-conditioned bedroom to look forward to.  Thank god.

Off to Farley's tomorrow!  Two weeks at the lake will certainly mean an incalculable number of pictures.   Tune in soon.