Independence Day Weekend

We had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. Charles found out on Monday that he got a four day weekend. What a fun surprise! We had expected he would have to work on Friday and we weren't up for taking a vacation day this soon after starting a new job, with no plans to leave town or do anything "big."

On the 4th, we hit up the Molalla Centennial Street Parade for some good old fashioned small town fun. Charlie was in heaven. More trucks, horses and people dancing (and running!) than he coudl imagine. Granted, honking semis five feet away is terrifying, but a non-honking semi 20 feet away? Heaven. on. earth. And best of all...Daddy was with us!

Enjoying the festivities

Waving our flag at all the trucks and horses

Both boys were on overload when the parade ended, so we abandoned plans to hit up the fairgrounds and rodeo and headed home. (PS - Not sure if they do it every year, but they gave away free rodeo tickets for the 1:30pm rodeo at the parade.)

The afternoon was filled with glorious silence, as all four of us got naps at the same time. That's one for the history books, folks. Evening festivities included a delicious dinner of buffalo turkey burgers, and Walla Walla sweet onion rings and watermelon. Yum! (Somehow we didn't manage to get pictures of any of the food...I blame it on 2 under 2.)

Friday we hit up the zoo with Nana and Papa, then Charles and I got a date afternoon/evening. Charlie spent the night with Nana and Papa, so we had a quiet night with just Levi.

Fun with Daddy and Papa

Charlie loved the animals, but the digger was still his favorite

Saturday morning I got a pedicure (all by myself!) while Charles and Levi went grocery shopping. After a quick drop of the groceries at home, we headed to Titus's 3rd birthday party. Charlie (and Nana and Papa) met us there. Charlie had great fun, but the evening ended rather abruptly after Charlie had a nice fall on the slide. All is well now, but he did twist his ankle and have a nice limp for a few days. Watching my baby collapse while trying to walk was not fun! Sunday was a forced low-key day, since Charlie still couldn't walk, so clearly wasn't up for the church nursery. We had a good combination of relaxing and cuddling, and housecleaning and chores.