4th of July Weekend

I was looking forward to the 4th, it's one of my favorite holidays. I like fireworks and so do the boys and it's summer and warm and just all around fun. Unfortunately, the Monday before the 4th Lysander had started having some bad diarrhea(yes, I know, it's gross to talk about poop but it's the reality of my life as a mother). So by that Saturday it had gotten a lot worse and I didn't have any food left in my house to feed him that would help to stop it. So I called my mom at like 10 am to come to my house to watch them while I went to the store. She came down and I went to the store and came back and made lunch and we were just hanging out. I was confused because she wasn't leaving and I figured that I had probably interrupted her day but she said that she drove all the way downtown she might as well hang for awhile. We settled in and I was on my laptop on the couch when all of a sudden a car that had just pulled up caught my eye. It was a Ford Focus with dark tented windows and in my head I thought "wow that looks a lot like my brother's car" So I got up to look out the window and I was like "NO WAY" and went sprinting out of the house because I saw the car had a Purple Heart license plate. As I was sprinting out of the house in total shock, it registered that my mom was not sprinting out of the house in total surprise. So THAT was why she was just hanging out with me!

Awesome way to start such a fun holiday, my brother and his wife come for a visit :) Which I had been asking them to do and apparently before I even brought it up they had decided to come but really wanted to surprise me. Cody and I have done surprise visits for my mom multiple times but this was definitely the first time I wasn't in on it. The boys were thrilled that Uncle Cody and Aunt Lindsey were here. Lysander adores Lindsey and Isaac attatches himself to Cody everytime he sees him.

We went to lunch and hung out at my house for a bit, then I took a shower because I was appalled at my appearance when they showed up. I looked like hell. I told my mom she could have said "hey, put on a little makeup or something"! Then we went to my mom's house and had pizza, Fred and Rae were there too, and we played a little cornhole and watched Tron. As it turns out, I'm really good at cornhole and Tron really is a good movie LOL.

On Sunday they hung out on the northside most of the day and came over to my house around 5. We ate and then went out in to the backyard to hang out and play games again. Cody decided we needed to get into a huge water fight... it started out innocent enough. He was squirting the boys with water. Just a little. But then he got aggressive and came at me. Well, once I was hit by one bucket of water I decided, screw it and we full out attatcked. Or at least, I did, he's a lot stronger than I am and I don't think he was going full throttle on me but we both were soaking wet. Mom and Lindsey were trying really hard to steer clear of us, but in the end mom was a little wet and Lindsey was completely soaked. Cody had a little harder of a time taking her down because she put up a good fight. I was concentrating more on making him as wet as I was than actually not getting wet!

After the water fight we played weird ball games that I don't know the names of and cornhole again. We killed the bottle of vodka Mom had bought the day before and then once it was dark enough we did the fireworks. Cody was put in charge of lighting them, and the boys were so excited. I thought that the pack ended up being kind of lame, but it was good enough for a 2 and 3 year old. Next year I'm going bigger and better!

Monday was Cody and Lindsey's last day and the actual 4th, so we got up early and all went to the zoo. We were there for about 4 hours and did everything. We saw all the animals, went to the dolphin show and rode the train. We even had a snack, which I never do because the zoo is like highway robbery with the food. ;) We hit the gift shop on the way out and the boys each got a stuffed dolphin and a pack of plastic penguins(all of which they LOVE)

Cody and Lindsey left shortly there after the zoo and the boys and I just relaxed the rest of the day. About 9:15 or so we got the wagon out and got drinks and went to Iria's parking lot to watch the fireworks. A few of our neighbors went too. It was really fun. Isaac was much more into my neighbor's three dogs than the fireworks, but Lysander liked the fireworks a lot. It was insane because after Indianapolis's fireworks were over, it was like bombs were going off for hours after. I swear hundreds of people in the city must have spent a fortune on the big fireworks this year!

All in all I'd say it was a great weekend. It's always a double edged sword because even though we have fun, it makes me a little sad because I miss my husband. I always want him to be with us during the fun times, but the fun times are a good distraction from him being gone in the first place. Definitely glad that digital cameras were invented and it's easy to document everything. I'm pretty OCD these days about taking tons of pictures! We celebrated big time, and the meaning of the holiday is not lost on our family. We celebrate for those who have given their lives, for those who have sacrificed, been hurt and spent time away from family, who have fought and are fighting for our freedom. I've made it a sort of tradition to watch John Adams every 4th of July(HBO miniseries, it's amazing, if you haven't seen it, do). It's always good to remember how we got here.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! :)