Happy 4th

This year celebrated a happy 4th for Independence Day, of course, but also for Joshie's birthday. Joshua turned 4 years old on the 4th of July, and he enjoyed celebrating both events.

We woke him up with a blueberry muffin with a lit candle in it singing happy birthday to you while he was in the top bunk. Rancho Murieta has a cute parade & carnival at Lake Clementia each year, and of course a spectacular fireworks show once it's dark out. Although it was super hot and Kayla got cranky at the end, we enjoyed swimming at the lake and all of the carnival activities, including free lunch and an awesome slip-n-slide. We also went to Uncle Ned & Aunt Karen's house for a bbq and more swimming later on in the afternoon. Good food and company, and we sang to Joshua again with cupcakes and a few presents from his cousins. Lucky boy got very cool toys: SpiderMan on a motorcycle, Ninja Turtle on a motorcycle, a StarWars Transformer (spaceship into ObiWan) and Transformer's Optimus Prime. We got home just in time to change into our pj's, grab a few things and load it into the back of mom & dad's golf cart which we were able to borrow because they were out of town. It was a perfect way to end the day. The night air feels so nice cruising along in a golf cart on a warm summer night with your little kids piled around you. It was simple and happy. We loved the 10 min. "drive" over to the new bridge that crosses over to the North side where we found a place to park and enjoy the show, which started about 5 min. after we found a spot on the lawn that surrounds the lake. It was fun to see the awesome fireworks. Kayla did well considering the cannons were so loud and she was trying to sleep. I love the 4th of July; one of these years I'm going to throw a patriotic party for Joshua's birthday while he's still young enough that he doesn't care about it not being 'cool'. Maybe we're past that point already, though. I couldn't do it this year but I have such cute ideas, and I love Patriotic Americana stuff (decorations, crafts, activities, treats, trivia, quotes, games) Even the invitations are going to be adorable -- popsicle sticks painted red & white, a couple of them half blue with tiny silver stars, all bundled up tied with ribbon, so that when you untie it and lay it out you make the flag and read the party info (written with permanent marker) I love it! Anyway...one of these years.