The 4th and All

Whoa - this weekend was a blur. We started Sat morning at 7 am and left for Darien parade. We helped Jeremy with his Prince Patios entry. On the way to the parade ALL children rode with Jen in the van. Bill and were left ALONE to drive the dump truck. It was the most PEACEFUL ride I've had in a LONG time. :-)

The kids all piled in the back of the dump truck at the parade and proceeded to bean people with dum-dums and tootsie rolls through the parade. We had a BLAST! We then retired to THE Shag and had a bar-b-que. The kids ran through the sprinkler, jumped in the water on the trampoline, in and out of the spa, and basically ran amok. :-)

We were ALL tired when we tucked in that night. Sunday we slept in and returned to Jeremy's to participate in Lisle's parade. *I* got to drive the Prince Patio's Explorer and Sal rode with and we both threw out candy. Driving and throwing is no easy task. ;-) Plus, at Lisle, the crowd is VERY close to the vehicles. It was a lot of fun.

Jeremy has a motorcycle with side car on it - Sadie (age 3) rode in there and threw candy. It was SO cute. Jer led the way then Jen, in the "fire van" , me in the Explorer, and Bill in the dump truck. I realized that afternoon that my kids had been accepted into the Fox family when Katelynn gave Jack AND her brother flack in the same tone. :-) Makes me very happy.

We all went to watch fireworks together. Jen took Jack and we took Katelynn. It was really nice to have a teenager in the car . I think it's so great for Jack to be around the Fox kids - to see what it's like to be a little brother (and big brother) to "typical" kids. They actually came looking for the kids on Monday afternoon! Katelynn and Andrew rode their bikes over and asked if Sal and Jack could come to their house. THAT is nice.

Anyway the fireworks were ok. Not worth a public service job - but ok. We managed to sit in the crying baby area of the village. DANG. There was a reason Sal never saw fireworks till she was like 8. It's just too much for some kids. By that time, they're tired and sun beat and just nasty. Don't try and comfort them through it - TAKE THEM HOME! They'll get to see fireworks ALL their life. But this particular family felt it their duty to make sure EVERYONE got to hear their precious scream at the top of his lungs - over and over and over and over. Ughhh.

On the way home, we stopped and got the traditional Frostee . Little Sadie had the best time , there were so many fireworks going off all around that she couldn't stop looking everywhere with her eyes wide open. She is a cutie.

Mabel made it through the night and didn't seem to be TOO affected. At one point in the night Sally asked if there was someone at the door (the booms sounded like knocks to her) ;-)

Mabel has a new trick of getting the pantry door open and getting into the garbage. She brings the whole bag out and goes through one by one while dining under the kitchen table - until you get home and as soon as she hears "oh, Mabel" you hear scampering and then sliding under the couch.