4th's Happenings

As is tradition, we went up to my sister's house on the 3rd, had a sleepover, and spent the 4th of July with her and her family. We all got up early to watch Jared run a 1.5K race, and Darren run a 10K. Jared did great. He was the 8th finisher for the 1.5K. We hung around downtown for the street fair and Parade where the kids caught their weight in candy as it flew from the passing floats. We played at the riverfront park then headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch rather than try to survive the mid-day heat. After a nap it was time to swim, do Sonny's BBQ for dinner, watch Uncle Darren's fabulous fireworks spectacular, play a little Wii, pack up and head home.

Now at 1am I've got all of the littles in bed, Jared's at Shannon's house and will leave for a NASCAR race with Darren in the morning, and I'm getting ready for my first ever garage sale in the morning. I stuck the signs at the curbs on our way home tonight. I figure I'll get up a 5 to do the rest of the "set-up" before the Spraguelings wake, because once they're up, all bets are off regarding productivity. Here's hoping it isn't a waste of time. But if it is, we'll take what we learn and try again next week.

Looking at these pictures of the day, I wish I could have captured the image of the fireworks sparkling in reflection on Finley's enraptured face. She was thrilled with "twinkles". Thomas, on the other hand, fled indoors after the first fountain was let loose. He came back for the finale. Covering his ears, he watched the rocketing sparks and flashes and I watched Thomas and Finley's faces. When I was a kid, it was the big blaze I loved to see. Now that I have kids, it's the sparkle in their eyes I look for--totally missing the fireworks and drinking in their awe.