Happy 4th in Video Format

I love short work weeks & long weekends! Especially when they come the week after you’ve been on vacation. It’s a nice way to ease back into things. With the 4th being on a Saturday this year they gave us the option to take the holiday Friday or today. Today probably would have been a better use of my time, but since Josh was off on Friday and the kids’ school was closed, I decided to take off Friday. On Saturday we had kind of a lazy morning. Josh decided to water the lawn (since it has gotten noticeably browner in just a month), and so Zachary put on a bathing suit & went out back to run through it. Whenever it rains (or sprinkler on), the bottom of our slide gets a little puddle of water, and Zachary discovered that this makes a very fun water slide. (NOTE: All of the videos in this post are really short - like, 20 seconds or so).



After naptime, we hung around for a little while longer & then headed out around 5:00 to Wills Park in Alpharetta for the fireworks. We had never taken Zachary before, because we’ve always been those people who stick to bedtimes, no matter what day it is. And with fireworks not starting until about 9:30, that is obviously past his bedtime, so we’ve never done it. I was a little sad last year that we didn’t go (but Liam wasn’t quite 5 months old, so that would have been a bit much anyway). But the decision to go was set in stone after we went to Disney World back in December and didn’t get to see one firework (in December, they do Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party most nights of the week & so the fireworks do not happen until midnight – that’s even too late for me. And the one night that there was no MVMCP, and they actually did them early, we were at our hotel watching the show, and so we missed them that night too). So we made the decision that bedtime would just go out the window – it’s just one day and we had the day after to recover. It was hot at the park, and we made the mistake of bringing our one-seater stroller instead of the two-seater, which meant that Zachary had to walk most of the time, and when he did get a turn in the stroller, it meant someone was carrying Liam. We also parked on the opposite side of the park from where most of the activity was – and it was probably a good mile walk (each way). But we had plenty of time, so we just strolled at a leisurely pace. We got over to where the band & inflatables were, and Liam decided to show us his moves. This kid LOVES to dance. I was thinking that Zachary may be the athletic one (he hates to dance & isn’t much of a singer), while Liam may be the more musical & artistic one. However, Liam does have one heck of a throwing arm that might make him a good pitcher or quarterback someday. Anyway, I digress. Here is Liam showing off his moves.



Both boys did really well for the fireworks. One smart thing that we did was bring their pj’s. Around 9:00 we changed them into their pj’s, which made putting them to bed a snap when we got home. They both stayed awake and nobody flipped out. All of the heat & other things that frustrated us during the day were all worth it to see their faces when the fireworks started going off.

Finally, here are 2 more videos. This first one is Zachary singing his Braves song (remember, I said he’s not much of a singer). This is his version of the little Braves theme song they play on TV before the games.



In case you couldn’t understand everything he said, it was “Ooooooo Braves play here! Braves play here! Braves! Stinking Mets! Phillies! Highlights!” Stinking Mets is courtesy of Josh, who told Zachary this weekend that the Mets are called the Stinking Mets. And I’m not sure why he shouts “highlights!” at the end – but he did it every time he sang the song. And he had Phillies on the brain, since Josh cheers for the Phillies (I think maybe the Philles were playing the "Stinking Mets" that day).

And finally, here is Liam in his cute little dinosaur hooded towel, telling everybody what a dinosaur says. I have another video where he goes through all the animal sounds that he knows, but it’s on the other computer. I just thought this one was cute since he’s wearing the dinosaur towel too.