Happy Birthday to the United States of America!!

This year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday.  How exciting!  We were able to go to church and recognize the blessings of living in a free country with freedom of religion.  We were also able to acknowledge the Lord's hand in growing this beloved country of ours.  We have much to be grateful for.

To carry on the feelings of gratitude we had, we were able to invite many of our neighbors over for a BBQ.  It was so nice having time to get to know eachother more.  Again, we have been blessed to live not only in a free contry, but also blessed to live in a wonderful neighborhood with exceptional neighbors that we consider friends.  Gary and Sue, Dave and Kathy, John and Nancy and their two kids, Grammie and Grandpa HB, Grammie Lowe and her friends the Woods, and our family all enjoyed a fun pot-luck style meal with Hamburgers and Hotdogs.  I guess I was too busy with food and friends to get pictures!  Must have been fun!

Our neighborhood firework show was scheduled to begin later in the evening--closer to dusk.  In preparation, all the fireworks were unwrapped and set out.  Not a bad stash!

(Just note how everyone is dressed.  It wasn't a warm day at all--and that carried on into the night!!)

Our neighbor, John, brought down his stash too!

Even though it wasn't dark yet, the "popits" and sparklers were brought out for the kids!

Grandpa HB began with the popits--little packets of explosives that POP when they hit the ground.

Then the sparklers!

We had more of our good friends and neighbors come over for fireworks.  The Simpers and the Campos' were a great addition to the fun!

By the time we were finished with sparklers, it was dark enough to begin with the big stuff! 

But wait!

You are wondering if our youngest overcame the fear of fireworks he loudly displayed last night.  The answer to that is...Nope!  So instead of me staying the whole evening inside, we put him to bed early enough that he was deep asleep by the time the loud booms came.  Ahhhh, the blessings of sleep!

Okay, on to the big stuff!

The Big Guy Lowe was our personal master of ceremonies.

We were all sitting watching the display at our house...

and across the street on the flat driveway!

It was a great display that went on from about 9:30PM to after midnight!  While we thoroughly enjoyed our fireworks, it was so fun to see the different firework displays that were going on throughout our neighborhood.  There really wasn't a quiet moment from when we started to when we were finished!

A special time for our family was when The Big Guy Lowe let G help with some of the fireworks!

After the fireworks were finished for the evening, we were joined by MANY neighbors and we had our street cleaned up in no time!  Again, what a wonderful neighborhood we are blessed to be a part of...

and what a truly wonderful country we are blessed to live and be citizens of.

3rd of July

Last year we were out of the country on the 4th of July.  Okay, we were up in Canada, but we were out of the country.  Did you know Canadians don't celebrate the 4th of July?  Nope.  ;)  (love all my Canadian relatives out there!!)  So, last year we didn't have any fireworks.  The year before was a big deal.  Lot's of celebratory fireworks set off by none other than The Big Guy Lowe.  Unfortunately, I was inside during most of them as big D was terrified of the sounds they made and we also had a new baby.  This year The Big Guy Lowe and I decided it was going to be different!

We decided to set off a few fireworks two different times on the 3rd of July...just to see how J was going to respond.  After the first fuse was lit and then the explosion took place, our youngest ran into the garage.  My first thought was "Oh no!  Not another year like this!!"  Then to my surprise, he came back out of the garage carrying his little camp chair, set it up on the driveway, and sat down in it.  Both the Big Guy Lowe and I were thrilled!  Yea for fireworks!! 

We were feeling pretty confident that our fireworks the next night would go well, but just to be sure, we decided to set off a few more that evening.  All the chairs were set out and because it was COLD, we had jackets and blankets to warm us.

Then it was time for The Big Guy Lowe to start our 4th of July Eve show.

Unfortunately, the excitement that our youngest shared earlier in the day had disappeared leaving a terrified little boy!  NO!!!  Now we were faced with figuring out our plans for the following night.

What to do?  What to do...

Shopping for the 4th of July

Last year we weren't able to celebrate the Fourth of July as we were on our way up to Canada to attend our Hornberger Family Reunion.  While we love attending our family reunions, we sure missed celebrating the birth of our great nation.  The Big Guy Lowe wasn't going to let that happen this year though, and we were going to get our supplies for the big celebration!  In the past this has been a Big Guy Lowe activity with the boys, but this year we expanded it to include our friends Sue and Gary!

It was amazing seeing all the fireworks for sale. 

 

Then it was even more amazing seeing all the fireworks The Big Guy Lowe was putting into our cart!

But this place wasn't just about the fireworks.  They made sure they had things for the kids too.  We headed outside to the jumphouses!

All three of the boys went inside!  It was hilarious!

We all had a good time.

Oh the joys of living in a state where cool fireworks are still legal!

Big D: Born to Hike

The Big Guy Lowe and I were able to accompany our congregation's Young Women on a qualifying hike for this year's Girl's Camp.  Not only were we able to go, but we brought along Big D!  We hiked just over six miles that day and the only time we held D was for this picture!

We had just begun and were excited for the day's journey.  Little did we know that D would be such a natural hiker!  He was AWESOME!!!  He didn't complain once during the hike--that is more than we can say about many of the older girls that were with us.  We were so impressed.  We had a wonderful day and look forward to many more out on the trails!

A hankering for Cuban

I love that The Big Guy Lowe and I love to try new foods.  Sometimes that means we are cooking up tasty things in our kitchen and other times it means we are hunting down good restaurants.  Recently we've been in the mood for some good Cuban food; a good Cuban sandwich,  Arroz con Pollo, empanadas and other possibilities.  We found one that we wanted to try, so we took the whole family!  Now, a little side note, our boys are not very adventurous when it comes to food.  No, that doesn't quite capture what I'm trying to get at...our boys don't like to try new foods.  To our chagrin, our boys are still at the stage where they want to know exactly what everything is in the food and if they haven't already decided it's okay to let it pass through their lips, it just doesn't go.  Nope.  Not happening.

But that doesn't stop The Big Guy Lowe and I on our adventures!!  Today it was to try Pambiche!  We were pretty excited about it.  It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and our cute little family was all happy just being together!  Yea!!  They didn't have seating large enough for us to be outside, so we waited a bit until they could get us our indoor table. 

G pointing to the menu.  For a minute you might think that he was planning on trying something.  Nope...at least not at this point.

Big D loved all the fish and fun things all over the restaurant.  He asked if he could take a picture.  Not too shabby!

We were all doing pretty well.  Our food came out and The Big Guy Lowe and I were pretty happy.  We enjoyed a classic cuban sandwich, some empanadas and some croquetas. 

The boys surpirsed us and ate quite a few Tostones, or friend green plantains.

We even got another order for them to eat, and then we all enjoyed the desserts!  We're looking forward to trying some of their other dishes in the future, but thought it was a great sucess for our first family attempt at enjoying Cuban food together!

Cousins, cousins and more cousins!!

When my sister Emily called to say she was going to be in town for a week while her husband was away on business and during the first week their home would be on the market, we were all excited to get everyone together!  There were fun times at Grammie and Grandpa's house.

Fun times at parks.

Aunt Emily, Ivy and Flash, the dog with D.

Cute cousins.

Cute brothers helping each other.

And fun on all the great playground equipment!

We also spent time at the creek!  Look at all those kids!!

Uncle Michael demonstrating his expertise at skipping rocks.

And then there was Flash.  All I'm going to say is that he was very comfortable among the rocks, and Emily wasn't too happy with how he was showing his comfort!  After a short time he was relegated to his leash back in the trees.

After our visit that day, the creek will never be the same!

It was wonderful having so many cousins to share it with!  We'll be looking forward to the next time!! 

Another missing tooth...with Grandpa's help!

Our oldest son has been losing teeth left and right it seems.  Well, at least his top left and right middle teeth.  This last one he asked Grandpa for some help after I mentioned that Grandpa always helped my teeth come out when I was little and my teeth were really wiggly.  Even though it has been a few years since he had helped me with my teeth, it didn't take long at all for him to get the necessary tools.  Notice the dental floss on the counter and the two expressions...hmmm.

Oooohhh, flashbacks to when I was young.  Did I ever mention how much I truly hate all things dental??  I put on a brave face this day though.  I'm a mom now...that's just what we do.  :)

Grandpa then helped G slip a loop around the loose tooth.  Notice G is still thinking this might be fun...

and then reconsiders a bit!

Grandpa let G be the one to pull on the floss, but then G asked Grandpa if he would do it.  To all our surprise, the floss broke with the tooth still intact!

They didn't let that stop this tooth extraction.  Another length of floss was quickly dispensed from the container and a knot tied.  This time the tooth came out and flew onto the floor.  G was so surprised that his tooth was out that he forgot to look for the missing tooth.  Good thing Grandpa knew where it went.

Both were thrilled with the experience!  It's nice to know Grandpa hasn't lost his touch when it comes to wiggly teeth.

What's not to love about this grin!!  Congrats on a true toothless smile!!

Thanks for sharing your talents once again Grandpa!  We love you so much!! 

(We love you even when all teeth stay put too...just in case you were wondering!!)