Fourth of July Fun

When I was growing up we would go to a Fourth of July parade every year. They usually go the same way, at least from my experience. You have the flag with the veterans and/or current soldiers. All of that is followed by the marching bands, fancy cars full of waving politicians and of course you have the floats. Floats are your best bet for candy and as a kid that's what I was on the look out for. My brother and I had contests to see who could get the most candy.

Today we took the kids to the parade that was taking place close to the hotel. I was unaware at the time we decided to go that we would be taking them to one of the coolest parades a kid could go to. At the beginning it didn't seem like it would go that great. The heat was intense and we couldn't find a shaded spot. I grew concerned about Ronan and Inara over heat so we put an umbrella over them to keep them cooler.The jets flew over signaling the start of the parade. We were one block from the end and this made me unsure if the kids would get any candy. I watched the soldiers and veterans go by and a few cars. Ronan started crying intensely and wouldn't stop even when picked up. I knew it wasn't the noise bothering him because I had left his gear home on purpose. I knew the marching bands would be too intense with his hearing aides. I decided he was too hot and needed to go back to the hotel. My parents were there so they told me they would bring the three oldest to the hotel if I wanted to take the babies back. With Ronan crying I decided it would be best to get him comfortable.When I left with the babies I thought I was right and the floats were out of candy because the ones that had passed while I was there had either very small amounts of candy or completely empty buckets. I got the babies back to the hotel and we relaxed. Ronan was back to smiling and playing on the floor now that he was cool. Two hours later the older ones came walking in the door and they had a ton of loot.

Jadzia took the prize. A float was handing out full sized stuffed animals to random children. One of the workers saw Jadzia wave at him. I have to admit her wave is priceless. She waves just like a little princess. He gave her a big cow puppet. A little while later a lady came by and handed her a t-shirt that was just her size and had jungle animals on it. The boys weren't completely left out. They got small foot balls and tote bags. All of them got a ton of candy. They got pretty lucky, I've never been to a parade that gave out stuffed animals and toys.We spent the afternoon resting. When evening rolled around I took the kids out to play with sparklers. Jadzia was scared and wouldn't try one out. When we were done she cried about how she didn't get to play with any sparklers. I offered her a sparkler again and she backed away saying she was scared.

We'd seen the big city fireworks display on Friday. For this reason I didn't feel the need to seek out any other fireworks display for tonight. The parade and sparklers had been enough. To finish everything off I let the kids lay in their hotel bed and watch the Washington DC fireworks display on tv. It turned out to be a low key, fun way to end a pretty nice Fourth of July.

Ice Cream Social

The fun thing planned today was the annual ice cream social at Gigi's playhouse. The social was for the afternoon and the kids were running around crazy with excitement. They love going to Gigi's and getting them to leave the playhouse always proves difficult.At Gigi's Ronan gets clapped for when he walks. He soaks all of it in because he is well aware of how amazing he is. Confidence is not a quality Ronan lacks. He also enjoyed the tool bench they had. he figured out how to use the hammer.

Gigi's always has various costumes for kids to put on. The three big kids discovered the costumes for the first time today. Jadzia's first costume was a pink unicorn/Pegasus and then she tried on a fairy costume. Landon picked the monster's inc monster and Xander a dragon. The boys switched after a little while and then Landon was a cowboy complete with a horse.
I need to buy Jadzia a little kitchen because whenever we go to Gigi's Jadzia only wants to play with the kitchen. She even pretended to wash all the dishes and put them away in the cabinet.
Of course since it was an ice cream social we had ice cream. There was about any type of topping you could think of. The kids enjoyed being able to pick whatever toppings they wanted. Xander tried a little of everything. He was also generous and shared with Inara. He came up with a rather unique method of feeding Inara. He held one end of the spoon in his mouth and then fed her. Inara thought it was pretty funny.

My Irish Twins

I once was told I have Irish quintuplets. The two that are most like true Irish twins are the two that are closest in age. Inara and Ronan. The fact Ronan is small has everyone thinking they are real twins. I will have the babies out and about and I get numerous comments on how cute my twins are. The reason for this is they are almost the same height. Ronan is about an inch taller but Inara is quickly catching up.

My mom took the three big kids to the mall play area today. Her objective was to get them out of the hotel as well as allow me to finish some class work. They had a good time and made a couple of friends. The mall had an event going on where the kids could color pictures for the overseas troops. Each of the kids drew a picture and were given the surprise of a bouncy ball.Grandma spoiled them further by letting them each choose a pair of sandals and an item out of the Target dollar bin. I guess that's what Grandma's are for. When they got back from the mall it was lunch time and then nap time. My mom sat with the kids so Isaac and I could have some time out.

We had a nice lunch out and talked. He's been busy lately working and I haven't seen much of him so it was good to get some time with him. We made it back as the kids were waking up from their nap. My mom wanted to know if she could take the kids to my brother's house for dinner and I told her that would be fine. This allowed me to get some more classwork done. I have the two babies with me. We've been enjoying a game of Peekaboo meets hide and seek.

My mom gave me a pretty good break today. It's nice to have a great mom who loves spending time with her grandbabies and doesn't mind helping me out.

A Two Picinic Day

Today was the opposite of yesterday in that we got out of the hotel room for the majority of the day. I had been determined that we would since the kids had to stay cooped up yesterday. We headed down for breakfast as usual. The kids are really liking their new breakfast routine. Especially since they get a wide variety of choices.

We took a mid morning swim. The boys are really coming along with swimming and they are becoming braver than they have been in the past. Jadzia still prefers to stay stationed on the pool steps until an adult can carry her throughout the water. Inara and Ronan are loving the pool. They are both natural water babies.

We went back to the room to get changed and then it was off for a walk to the nearby gas station. I let the kids pick out something for lunch. We sat at the outdoor tables in front of the hotel and enjoyed a nice outdoor lunch. Between the walk and just running around outside the kids were exhausted. I put them all down for a nap and within ten minutes they were snoozing.

For the evening it was the annual Yankee Doodle Pops at the capitol building. They have a nice concert and then fireworks finish the whole thing off. My parents took Jadzia, Xander and Inara. I was going to meet them there with Ronan and Landon. I was loading the boys and went to turn the car on so the air conditioning could get cool while I buckled the boys in their car seats. The engine wouldn't even turn over.

I unloaded the boys and we headed back up to the hotel so I could call Isaac. Lucky for me he was pulling into the hotel drive at that moment. He figured out the problem right away and we continued on our way.
We met my brother, his family and my sister in-law's family at the capitol. Inara looked red and sweaty. I was worried she was over heating then I found out they had been lightly spraying her with my mom's fan squirt bottle. She wasn't sweaty at all. The redness is from her dad. All of my kids turns bright red when they are outside in warm weather. They can be out for only five minutes and they turn super red. This is a trait they've inherited from Isaac.

We had a picnic dinner. The kids enjoyed ice cream and running around the capitol building lawn. We listened to the concert for a little while. Inara and Ronan were beginning to get fussy and I decided to take them back early and put them to bed. The three big kids are still not back yet and I know they're probably enjoying the fireworks as I type this. It will be a late bedtime. Maybe they'll sleep in tomorrow. One can dream, right?
I wanted to add these pictures of Inara's run in with a beetle. She's never really seen a bug before. I was snapping pictures of her because she was sleepy and looking so cute. All of a sudden she starts crinkling her nose and saying "Uh oh" I couldn't figure out was wrong. Finally she showed me her hand and it had a ugly black/green beetle on it.

She wasn't crying and her hand looked fine. I think she was purely disgusted at the fact the beetle chose her hand to crawl on. I can't say that I blame her. I shooed the beetle off of her and then everything was fine. Oh and yes, she is strapped in in these pictures. I had to keep checking her becuase it looked like she was going to fall out but she was securely strapped in. The straps were just hidden by her dress.