A Day at the Beach

What a great day I had at Alki beach with my little boys and our friends, Ann and Annabelle. We had a picnic and just played on the beach. You gotta love summer! Just had to share these great pics.

Happy Popping Day!

Joseph has affectionately termed the 4th of July "Popping Day" because of the fireworks that you hear popping all day and night. He's not a big fan. Last year we went to a park across the bay from the Space Needle to watch the fireworks and Joseph whined and held his hands over his ears the entire time. We were hoping this year would be a little bit different. We went to the firework tent and bought sparklers and pop-its and with the explanation that the sparklers don't make any noise, he told me he would do the sparklers but not the pop-its. He did well all through the day on the 4th; the random sounds of distant fireworks didn't seem to bother him at all. But then as it got darker, the fireworks got louder, and he got more tired, he just wanted to stay inside. This is as close as he got to doing fireworks:But we adults enjoyed them! (See our sparklers?)We had a few friends over and we BBQ'd, played a little whiffle ball, and did our lame fireworks. (The good ones are illegal in Seattle.) Justin was mesmerized by the sparklers!

Of course, fireworks aren't what this holiday is about. It was fun to talk to Joseph about our country and why we're so lucky to be free. I think he kind of understood it. It was wonderful to have Darren home for 4 days! He got Monday off too! So we went swimming and got lots of work done outside. What a refreshing long weekend!