Pool Time

We've had a couple of parties at the pool this week.

Several members came together to for the 4th of July, with a BBQ and swim time. It was actually surprisingly cool which made it feel perfect to sit in the shade near the pool, and not get in, haha. Peanut and his friend who joined us swam, and some of the other adults got in later, but I was okay sitting this one out.

And on Tuesday, we had our Park Day Pool Party. Good turn out and so much fun for all ages.

I'm so glad that we get to do this. It's the best few hours. I can't believe we only have a few more weeks of park days before Peanut starts high school! He's feeling a little stressed by it, too, but I think once he starts, he'll be okay..

Happy Independence Day

We've got a lot of work to do this summer, but 4th of July meant beach time with friends!

Several families joined us and we had a blast, even if it wasn't very warm--didn't stop the kids from playing in and around the water most of the day.

Daddy-o was able to join us, which doesn't always happen on these holidays, but we love it when he gets to come play, too. It was a fun day and we made it back to Livermore to grill burgers without any traffic, always a bonus!

Cousin Time

Cousin time is always one of the best parts of these trips.

These 6 got to see a lot of each other and came up with all types of fun during the week.

They spent a big chunk of one evening doing art.

while this monkey told me all about the treasure hunt she was on and where she was going to find the treasure at the end, and then she somehow managed to hijack the hammock from me so I got to see all the fun tricks she could do on that, haha.

We went hiking to Gloria Falls which was a fantastic, not-too-long-with-a-good-reward hike.

The Boys

Cutest little hiker :)

R LOVED Daddy-o's beard--like, she couldn't stop petting it. It was hilarious.

My girl, who isn't so little anymore.

Bridges are one of my favorites on hikes.

Maybe just because they usually mean there is water, and I love a hike near water. This was a good one for sure.

The kids also put together a puppet show, complete with a playbill, the first night we got together at Rara's house.

They made a ticket booth and were so excited to charge money for the show. We had to dig around to find lots of quarters.

And then, our last day with family, was the 4th of July. It was crazy hot--perfect for a water balloon fight and games in the yard after dinner.

Some of the adults didn't stay in the safe zone, haha

 

They ended with a few rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose, which may not have been a great idea. 

It started off as all fun, and the sprinkles felt great.

But not all the "gooses" enjoyed the dump. There were some tears, but all was forgiven in the end.

As always, we leave wishing that we lived closer and that we could see all our family more often. If only we could carve out the state of Nevada. . .

Best 3rd of July EVER

I'm skipping so many things right now, but on the way home last night, Peanut asked if I took any pictures of their day and if I'd be blogging about it because it was his favorite 3rd of July ever🤣. How could I not jump right on. And so, even though the pictures are few and not great, here's our first 4th of July celebration of the year.

We spent the day at Daddy-o's brother's house. This was the only day we got to see these cousins on this trip and the kids made it count! Swimming, volleyball, video games, NERTS and Scum, space battles, fireworks, and more swimming to finish off the night.

They had some family friends over as well and the 13 year old played with Peanut for a couple hours--building spaceships from wooden shapes and then having battles. Peanut LOVED it, and then roped his dad into playing with him for a couple more hours after his new friend had to leave.

Once it started getting dark, we started the firework show.  

Started with the small stuff and then worked our way up.

 A lot of locations banned them this year because of the fire hazard with the drought, but ironically, if you live in a more urban area, they were allowed, so we were good to go. Only houses to burn in this area!

There were fireworks going off from the blocks all around us at the same time, and the kids were running back and forth from the front yard to watch ours to the back to see a couple other amateur shows. 

I couldn't capture them--just their voices--but this pretty much sums up almost an hour of fireworks. So much joy, and Peanut picked up his older cousin's screams of excitement and was very happy to join in.

They were on the trampoline by the pool at the end and it didn't take long before they all ended up in the water. I think the adrenaline high from swimming at 11 o'clock after all the excitement of the evening blew Peanuts mind. They were all so insanely happy, and it's so fun to see that after such a LONG time of being apart.

Happy 4th

We may not have had the 4th of July breakfast at the church this year, but we didn't let that stop us from doing our own pancake breakfast in the backyard with our red, white, and blue toppings.

And to add in a little history fun--a Hamilton timeline match to see what the kids remembered from our movie night the day before. There were a few tricky spots, but they did pretty well.

Then, it was time to go down to the church parking lot to meet up with a few friends for a bike parade. We used to do this when the kids were little at Birkdale Village, and I'd kind of forgotten about it, but Peanut was happy to decorate his bike. There's a lot of this stuff that he was too little to enjoy, and we let slide over the years, so its nice when he gets his chance.

Bug decorated his too. He's looking too tall for that bike--crazy boy won't stop growing!

The line up. Bean's bike was broken, but that didn't stop her from jumping in as the drum major/baton twirler.

I love this kid and her willingness, and excitement, to join in everything. 

Peanut, all decked out. This kid is a mask champ. He keeps that thing on when around his friends, always. Wish more adults could do the same.

That afternoon, Peanut made lemon bars. He'd been talking about these for days, and was so excited.

The final product! They tasted even better than they looked.

Our evening felt a little weird. We'd hoped to set off fireworks at the storage facility out in Manteca, but when Daddy-o looked into it, the county doesn't allow for fireworks, and he's just outside the city limits, so that was a no go. Instead, we grilled hot dogs and sausages, ate outside, and then ended up watching Independence Day while it sounded like the whole city set off illegal fireworks (and the fire trucks rushed around putting out the resulting brush fires--so many sirens all evening!)

This year has been anything but normal, so it was fitting that the celebration of the birth of our nation felt a little strange, too. But all in all, it wasn't a bad day.

July 4th Fun

We started the day with a pancake breakfast and games at the church, snuck in a haircut and some play at the house, did a little swimming and cookout with friends/family, and finished off the day with the Livermore fireworks. I'd say it was a good start to creating new holiday traditions here.

(He didn't want to keep this style, so ended up going pretty short all around. I need to take a better picture of the final product.) 

Bean's new look was cracking me up. 

She had a friend over and they put on a show Peanut wrote for them. It also was cracking me up. His dialogue may have left a little to be desired, but they really did well with it.

("Let's get back to it"

"What type of get back to it"

"Back to the show. That type."

"Yeah!")

Good day, good friends, good fun.