4th of July 2012

 

 

Where else would we be on the 4th?? Home in San Diego. Jamie, Heather, Hadley and Elise were home from their adventures in London and Dawn and Laurel were down as well. We got to love on this new niece/cousin of ours, Elise. I  have often wondered how the boys would react to having a sister, but after watching them with Elise and Hadley, they would have been attentive, loving and over protective older brothers. I love situations where the softer side of them comes out. Doesn't happen all that often, but its a pleasure to watch when it does. Playing at Grandpa and Grandma, beaching, eating and a dud of a firework show rounded out our holiday weekend. We went to the Costco parking lot to watch the Legoland fireworks, but they lasted all of two and a half minutes and were done. No one is quite sure what happened, but the car was full of extremely disappointed children on the way home. Should have just watched the fireworks from NY on TV this year :-)

Skyping with Eric, Emily and Blake and Claire

Waiting, waiting, waiting for breakfast to come at The Potato Shack. Brian started a tower building competition with the jelly containers...

The happy crew. The portions never disappoint. The take home boxes are filled to the brim. The breakfast burrito was a new try this year, got a thumbs up from Jamie and Brian. I never order anything because that way I can have bites of everyones dishes, best way to eat breakfast.

Lovely beach day. Hadley loves the water-- so fun to see their excitement at this age. A few good naps were had, a jelly fish sting on Brandon's foot and a number of pink cheeks ( I never can remember to reapply sunscreen) rounded out the day. Zach and Andrew won't get in the water. They just dig and build and dig and build.  Brandon and Matthew were finally big enough to get a bit of use from the wetsuits. They are still on the large side, but it kept them in the water longer than previous times.

Fourth of July run...the rocks came up on the beach over night. not the best run we've had. Perhaps next year. This is where we were sitting the day before, with 1/1000 of the rocks there yesterday. Crazy tides and currents.

The afternoon we went through a few more boxes Mom had brought down from Grams kitchen. We were dividing kitchen items into a DI pile (gasp, yes, there was a pile designated for donation) and then piles for anyone who wanted items. Loved Brian wielding the knife sharpener in the back ground. Even funnier when Matthew is then seen wielding it and it looks like he is poking Dawn in the face.

One of the items in Gram's house was a model plane made from Coke cans- Matthew thought it was very cool. Grandpa found some plans online and he took the time to help Matthew make a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis. ( the Wright Brothers Plane). We told Zachary that he couldn't go on the patio while they were building, he wasn't thrilled with being exiled behind the doors.

BBQ for dinner on the patio

The burger is as big as she is... and she's all dressed up for dinner.

Apparently there was a secret family message sent out on color coordinating for dinner, Heather and I didn't get it. Even Jamie's arm in the corner of the photo  has a red stripe in it. Summer evening dinners are usually out on the patio. Conversations last well past the eating is finished. As the kids have gotten older and can take care of themselves after dinner, we have all enjoyed these few adult conversation moments together. most conversation revolve around church, happenings in each of our wards or computers/electronics. Rarely have I heard a political conversation around this table.

Home-made ice cream for dessert. Always.