Happy Birthday America!!

The weekend of July 4th was a busy one for us, but also a fun one! Matt's cousin was getting married in Indianapolis on Sunday, the 3rd, so it made for a hectic weekend. But we all had such a great time.

We drove to Madison on Saturday morning, ate some lunch and took naps, and then headed to the Madison Mallards baseball game with my parents and Matt's entire family. The initial reason for going to the game was to have a tailgate afterwards in preparation for the city's HUGE fireworks show set to music, "Rhythm and Booms". The idea of going to the game and getting great seats for the fireworks was great in theory, but I wasn't sure how it would work out with Blake. The game started at 5pm and the fireworks weren't until 10pm. (This fireworks show is quite intense....people drive over to the area the morning of the fireworks to save seats and the usual 20 min. drive home becomes over an hour with all the traffic after the show.)

But I was willing to just take it all in stride and see how it went......

Uncle Ty and Blake

My sister-in-law Mollie and I

And it actually went really well. All 15 of us were sitting in 2 rows, back to back, and right on the aisle. So although the seats were in the sun and it was quite warm, we also had a lot of space to let Blake roam....

Papa and Blake

Pops and Blake

Not sure what they were doing here.....I think hitting each other in the face and laughing!

Blake and Papa were making silly faces at each other....

Ty, Kyle and Christy....baking in the sun!

Auntie Cam and Blake

Nani and Blake

As you can tell, Blake did great but only because of all the people willing to take turns entertaining him and playing with him. And he is a great kid.....but not a kid who sits still....EVER! So all our family members were life savers and made the game so much more enjoyable for all of us!

Sadie also loved making the rounds and enjoying the game from the comfort of others' laps

I love this picture...evidence that Blake as been near Grammy?

Red lipstick on the cheeks!

a bit of attitude?

so much better!

Sadie also took the opportunity to dance whenever music was playing.....I'm telling you, this girl loves to dance. And she loves it even more when she realizes someone may be watching her.

And yes, Wyatt was there too. But he was much too interested in the game to bother with much else.....

After a great game that went in to extra innings, we headed to the outfield to snag some great seats for the fireworks display. I held down the fort with the blankets while some people went to get food, some played catch and some just enjoyed the evening.

We sat right on the edge of the infield between 1st and 2nd base and Wyatt loved showing the field to Blake and being ON the field!

Sadie sat with Grammy for the entire evening......which was so interesting because Matt and I have commented often times lately how much we think Sadie is like Matt's mom.....and Sadie never once asked to sit with Matt or I.....it was so precious and I am so glad that my kids have grandparents who are so involved in their lives.

..watching the skydivers land with their parachutes lit up!

....getting tired.....

the crew

Cammie and her boyfriend Chris

Wyatt and Nani

This was the 1st year Wyatt sat by himself, but he did hold both my hand and my mom's the entire time.

We got home around 11:30pm and Matt and I had to get up by 6:30 the next morning (Sunday) to drive with his family down to Indianapolis for his cousin's wedding. Thankfully my parents were able to watch the kids for us......it would have been a rough trip driving 6 hours down there, sitting through a wedding, spending the night and then waking up the next morning to drive 6 hours back to Madison. The kids had a great time going to the zoo, playing golf and mini-golf, playing in the pool at my parents and getting to eat at McDonalds. My kids are still talking about how much fun it was. And we had a great time at the wedding......

My mother-in-law, myself, and sister-in-laws Mollie and Cammie

Cammie and Chris

Mollie and Kyle's wife Christy.....visions in yellow

If you'll notice in this picture, Matt and I were not standing too close to each other. In fact, this was about as close as I could handle........because the heat was just unbearable!!!! The wedding was outdoors, at 5pm (hottest part of the day), in the sun with no breeze and in the humidity that is characteristic of Indianapolis......it was beautiful, but brutal!!

Unfortunately my camera battery died just after we took this picture, just in time to miss the entire Smith family picture (i'm still kicking myself for that one!)

But it was beautiful wedding at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the reception was there also, but thankfully it was indoors!! We had a great time dancing and enjoying being kid-free for the evening!

The next morning we made the 6 hour trip back to Madison......

but not without a trip to White Castle for Chris, Tyler and Mollie's inaugural slider!!!

We got back to my parent's house in time for dinner and then our own fireworks display. And I have to say that Matt got some great fireworks this year. We usually just get some at one of those stores along the interstate and Matt is like a kid in a candy shop in those places!! But you never know how good they'll be.....we sat on my parents deck and 'ooohed' and 'ahhhhed' while Matt and my Dad shot them off!

The kids liked the sparkles, up until the point where they are about to burn out but the kids begin getting fearful that the sparks will reach their hands....notice Wyatt's face!

My Dad had also bought a firepit and we roasted some mallows and made smores.....but this little guy grabbed a handful of big marshmallows and shoved them all in his mouth, then retreated to Pops' tractor (his favorite outdoor seat).

The next morning (Tuesday) was spent sleeping in, packing up and playing outside. Sadie took another stab at photography---she always asks to use my camera and I love the pictures I end up finding when I upload them to my computer.....

This one is great b/c it shows exactly what my Dad and Wyatt did for a good hour or so that morning....play games on the iPad. Not sure if this one was the new CARS2 game my Dad found for Wyatt or the motorcycle race game, but they were both very in to it!

The kids spent some time in my parents garden picking raspberries, strawberries, lettuce and radishes.

Sadie came up with her special 'sandwich'=lettuce wrapped raspberries

And she sat and ate several and then gave us all a few! Boy were they good!

Matt commented when we got home that this was one of his favorite 4ths that we have had in awhile...not sure if it's because of the age of the kids or the fact that we had an extra long weekend and a couple rounds of fireworks, but it was a lot of fun spent with both of our families! (We missed you Lindsay and Rob--maybe someday Rob will be able to experience America's birthday with us in the states!)