4th of July – 2 days later

First off, if a holiday is on a Tuesday, offices should be closed on Monday. Essentially, anyone who had to work on Monday had two Mondays this week – not fair!

That said, we had a rather lazy 4th of July. This past weekend we joined a pool. For our holiday off, all we knew was that we wanted to go swimming and see fireworks (which were at 9 pm). The pool closes at 8 on Tuesday so there was no rush there. My plan was to eat lunch, go swim, let Taylor have a late nap, eat dinner, go watch fireworks. Sounds good, no? Well, lunch was ready. Brian made Taylor go upstairs and take off her dress-up dress and go potty (she hadn’t gone since before breakfast!). She screamed and pitched a fit. She’d request something, Brian would comply, she’d cry. (experienced parents out there know what this is… inexperienced ones will learn) When they finally got back downstairs, Brian said, “Are you sure you want a late n-a-p?” I was already revamping my plan for the day.

After lunch, she went down for nap with no problem whatsoever (confirming our thoughts on why all the screaming before lunch). After nap we went swimming (about 4). It was good that we went late because earlier in the afternoon, lifeguards heard thunder (everyone out of the pool!).

In the pool, Taylor had a blast despite the fact that we forgot her swimmies (things that go on her arms to help her stay afloat). We had a noodle instead so she was happy. She ventured out a little without it and got a face full of water but was basically okay. While Brian was busy playing volleyball with some folks, Taylor and I hung out in the shallow end. I *finally* got her to float on her back. She insisted on holding onto my fingers, but I wasn’t really offering much in the way of support. Our next goal is to get her to slide down the slide. She says that she’ll do it when she has goggles (like the other kids had on).

This one’s for Kenny & Lauren: While we were hanging out in the shallow end, Taylor asked for an ice cream (she & her daddy had had one Monday afternoon and she now saw other kids with some). I told her no – it was close to dinner time. Then she said, “But it’s pie day.” I said, “What?” She said, a little more clearly, “It’s pie day.” I said, “Nice try, hon, but it’s not pie day yet.” 

About 7, the volleyball game ended and we moved on to thoughts of dinner. We got home, changed, and back out the door by just after 7:30. Our plan was dinner then to Brian’s office to watch fireworks. Habaneros? Sure! Oops… they’re closed. Zaxby’s? Don’t see anything I really want. We opted for Jim & Nick’s drive-thru. They messed up the drink order so I got stuck with 2 sweet teas (aawww!). Brian didn’t want to double back to McD’s on 31 (Taylor wanted chicken fingers and Jim & Nick’s don’t do those in the drive-thru) so he went into WalMart’s McD’s and promptly returned – they were closed. Okay, *fine* – we double backed (not really much it was just the principle of the matter!). Brian very wisely got Taylor a big kid meal (6 chicken nuggets instead of 4 – it was 8 pm and she hadn’t eaten since noon?)

We saw little fireworks along the way. Saw a few warm up shots while eating dinner. Got dinner eaten then watched while standing by a window. The view was great and you could hear the really loud ones. Plus we had the TV on so we heard the music too.

Got little girl home about 10 – she was wide awake. Insisted on a story. Then the fireworks around the neighborhood kept her awake. It’s quieter on our side of the house so I *sigh* went to bed with my baby girl. She didn’t get to sleep until around 11. Then she fell out of her bed sometime after Brian had come to bed. Oh, and she woke up at 5 a.m. – Brian slept with her while I got ready. She had no problem going down for nap or bedtime yesterday.

All in all, a happy 4th of July.