Don't give up on me!!!

Okay, so I think I should only commit to one post a month... since that's all I'm averaging. Pathetic, I know. But in my defense, I've had a busy month. I am currently in Utah, visiting family, but was catching up on blogs and felt the need to say a little hello.

Today is July 24th, Pioneer Day. I was so excited to be here for all the festivities for the first time in 5 years. I was looking forward to taking the kids to a carnival, watching a parade, spending the day with family and ending it with a big fireworks show! What a bust!!! We spent several hours on the internet, trying to find a town within reasonable driving range that was doing something... anything! The only thing we could find was the downtown parade, and something at the park that's at the end of the parade route. I guess all the towns did their big parties on the Fourth. Not looking forward to braving the crowds and our cranky kids (it was 103* today), we reluctantly woke up early to get going. But, without much heart, and with the one niece that was pushing for the parade sleeping in, we opted for the easy plan - go to Grandma's and swim all day long. Not a bad plan, it turned out. Everyone there had lots of fun. And I was able to spend more time with my family that I only see once or twice a year. We ended the night with fireworks in the street in front of my sister's house. WOW!! My brother-in-law is a nut about fireworks, and always has a good stash purchased from the state next door. Needless to say, several of us were watching the end of the road in the hopes that the cops weren't about to come and bust us for the illegal display of high flying explosions. Unfortunately, Addie has never liked fireworks - or any loud noises, for that matter. So, after the third LARGE explosion (there's a reason professionals handle the authorized displays) and a few scrambles to get the kids out of the way of rogue sparks, I had to bring in a hysterical little girl. She is so fearless about so many things that I can't fault her for not warming up to something that scares her so badly. Max, on the other hand, really kind of liked it. I kept his ears covered when I saw the big ones being lit, but missed a couple times. All he did was squirm around in my lap until he was comfortable again. He even started falling asleep with all the pops and booms around him, so I took him in and put the kids to bed. All in all, kind of a run of the mill day. Gone are the days of the whole state shutting down to celebrate it's birthday, I guess. Oh, well, we had fun anyway. I'll get some pictures loaded once I get home and maybe put a video up for your viewing pleasure.