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July 6, 2003
I hope you all had a happy and safe Independence Day! We had a wonderful day. After a lazy morning, we headed out to my FIL's. He and his wife Peggy were celebrating both the Fourth of July and their recent milestone birthdays (he turned 50 in May and she turned 40 last week).
We spent the afternoon at their house, gorging ourselves on hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, pasta salads, cakes, and homemade ice cream. Peggy has a large family, and even with fewer than half of her siblings in attendance, there were still between 20 and 30 people. Luckily, there was room for most of us inside in the air conditioning, because after a cool spring and early summer, July has hit with a vengeance. The weather was in the 90s with high humidity that brought the heat index well over 100. Lucky for us, the homemade ice cream was the perfect antidote for the heat.
We had brought our Pack & Play so Aden could take a nap at their house, but he wanted nothing to do with it. After he'd been laying down quietly for a while I snuck in to check on him, only to find that he was not asleep at all, just sitting in the crib staring at the ceiling fan. He told me that he needed more night-night kisses and hugs from "Boppy" (Grandpa) before he could go to sleep, so I called my FIL upstairs. The next thing I knew, Aden and Boppy had decided that they would both take naps. Two hours later, my FIL came downstairs, shaking his head and saying that Aden was finally lying down, but he still didn't seem to be asleep. Sure enough, we could hear Aden continuing to talk and sing to himself upstairs.
As 5:00 came, we finally gave up on the nap idea. Amazingly enough, Aden was in a great mood. We said goodbye and went home to freshen up before heading to the concert and fireworks at the park. Derek and I weren't sure whether Aden would make it through all of the festivities and fireworks but we decided to try it. We had a late picnic dinner at the park and then the concert started--The Trinidad and Tripoli Steel Drum Band, a group we have wanted to see for several years. They come through town almost every summer but somehow we always miss them.
Aden finished eating and then got up and danced on the blanket we'd spread on the ground. After nearly an hour his sleepiness was starting to catch up with him, but he never got cranky. He'd come take a break on our laps for a while and then get down and run around some more. He particularly liked the family that was sitting in front of us and attached himself to them! Derek and I had to take turns getting up and retrieving our rather unwilling son so he didn't become a nuisance to them.
We’d been talking to Aden all day about the fireworks we would see, and how they would be loud like thunder and they’d make pretty colors in the sky. I was a little nervous about whether he’d be frightened of them. Last year he didn’t see the fireworks because my mom took him home and put him to bed before they started. But I thought he would probably like them this year. He’s completely fearless, and even the extremely loud thunderstorms last week didn’t scare him. By the time it was getting dark he kept telling us, “Fireworks boom up high in the sky!” Then, as the concert was winding down, people in the surrounding areas started shooting off fireworks, so he got to see them from a distance and get used to them without all of the noise. He was excited and pointed each and every one out to us.
Finally the concert was over and we counted down to the fireworks. Aden was sitting in his stroller and I wanted to pull him onto my lap but I stopped myself, reasoning that he would only be scared if he thought there was a reason to be, and if I held him he might sense my nervousness. As the first big ones went off, Derek and I watched his face...
There were loud booms and the colors flared across the sky...
And a huge grin broke out ear to ear on Aden’s face! He loved them! With every explosion he shouted “Boom!” He shrieked with so much excitement in his voice that we couldn’t even understand what he was telling us. He pointed as they came down, yelling, “Down, down, down!” He thought it was the best thing ever.
At the end of the fireworks, as we walked back to our car, Aden asked Derek, “More fireworks, Daddy?” I thought he would be disappointed to hear he had to wait an entire year to see them again, but it didn’t even register. He was almost asleep.
Next time, I have to catch you up on Aden’s new bike, his questions about “yummy mama milk,” the big birthday party plans, and month #2 of TTCing. Until then, have a great week! I’ll leave you with some questions:
How was your Independence Day? What did you do? If you have kids (or pets) what do they think of fireworks? (Xander pointed at the sounds of the firecrackers on our street and wanted to go get them, but was otherwise unfazed. Ana could care less.)
For our Canadians, did you have a nice Canada Day last week? Is Canada Day like our Independence Day? How is it celebrated?
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