4th of July 2015

Since moving to Oregon, the 4th of July has become one of my favorite, if not my very favorite holiday.  The reasons for this include the legal fireworks that many people light in the street right in front of their houses and for Jim and Tamie Brown's famous July 4th party.  This year, mid June we started hearing rumors that the Browns might not be having their party.  When it turned out the rumors were actually true, we were worried that the day might be DOA.  Fortunately, with a little last minute planning, we were able to pull off a day to remember after all.

Early in the day we (and my mom) went to see the new Pixar movie Inside Out.  We don't have a lot of experience with Carrigan at the movie theater and I was wondering how it would go, but for the most part she did great.  It is amazing what a non-stop supply of candy will do.
                                                            

After the movie we headed to Ben and Becca's house for some slip-n-slide action and a bar-b-que.  I didn't slide this time and CC did about 1/4 of a slide, but Jeremy and Merrick slid enough for all of us (they both even have bruises today to prove it).  We had invited some friends of ours, the Wilsons and the Corbins, and a good time was had by all.

We ended the day at the Corbin's.  We roasted s'mores over a fire pit and lit fireworks.  We had a couple of close calls with fireworks coming a little too close for comfort and an incident where Lincoln may or may not have eaten a firework, but everyone was having a good enough time that we didn't make it home until almost 11.  In fact, Carrigan was so tired that she fell asleep in the one mile drive from the Corbin's to our house and while she stirred briefly when I put on her pajamas, she was out enough that I ended up cutting her hair ties off of her while in her crib.  I am going to take that at a sign of a great day.

And since I am in the habit lately of doing double duty on the blog, let me just mention that Merrick went with the family of a friend from preschool to the coast on Friday.  I was a bit nervous to have him away from me, but he had a blast.  They went crabbing, playing in the water, went to an arcade.  The boy's mom sent me a few pictures during the day so I could keep my sanity and not worry too much.