July Festivities

We've had a fun July so far.  Three of Phil's high school buddies from Boston came and stayed with us for a few days. They are such nice guys and really fun to be around.  One day we headed down to Galveston to show them the beach.  Their reaction was hilarious.  If you haven't ever seen Galveston, the water is basically brown.  Not very appealing or inviting.  But the water is warm and the sand is nice, so I'll take it. The kids loved playing in the sand and we had a hard time getting them to leave.

The 4th was really fun. It's definitely one of my favorite holidays. We went to the parade in the morning where Phil was randomly a drummer in the Union Army band.  A guy in our ward heads up this "float" every year and kept asking for volunteers to play the drum, he wasn't having any luck so Phi stepped up and said he'd do it.  Even though he's never played the drums before.  He did a fantastic job and they sounded so awesome.  Their group actually got first place for most patriotic!

The kids LOVED the parade.  They waved their little flags and Livi would wave at the people in the floats.  A float loaded with mermaids drove by and she about flipped.  She is a little obsessed with mermaids right now.  

After the parade we went swimming and had a blast.  Livi has been taking swimming lessons and is doing a phenomenal job.  I'll have to write a separate post about that.  Later that night we had a BBQ and I made some red white and blue rice krispy treats, which were a big hit.  Phil was beyond impressed with my dedication to holidays.  A few days earlier I had went and purchased a few of my favorite fire works from when I was a kid. Black snakes, sparklers and smoke bombs.  I thought I remembered Zippers as these awesome things that would "zip" around really fast in a circle so I got a few of those, and a fountain.  Phil was super paranoid about all of the fireworks (technically they are illegal in the Woodlands) and I thought he was being such a stick in the mud.  I mean, they're sparklers and black snakes and smoke bombs?!  Then I lit the Zipper. It shot up into the air, over onto our neighbors roof, (covered in dried pine needles), and almost rolled into their rain gutter, (also full of dried pine needles and leaves.)  My heart dropped into my stomach as I was waiting for their house to catch on fire.  That convinced me not to do the fountain. I think I was remembering a firework called the Flower, not the Zipper.

After that near felony experience, we headed over to the Waterway to watch the real fireworks.  It was insanely packed so Phil dropped us off and we went to find a spot.  Right before the fireworks started Phil miraculously found us ( I had forgot my cell phone) and we watched one of the coolest firework displays ever.  This is the first year that Livi has really liked them, they have always been a little too loud for her, so that was extra fun.  And Jack, of course, got a kick out of them.  After the fire works we got to our car and it only took us an hour to get home.  An hour.  We live about 5 miles from the Waterway. Next year we decided we're riding our bikes.  

Speaking of bikes, I sold my road bike and got a beach cruiser instead!  I love it!  I feel like I'm driving a Cadillac because it's so much bigger than my last one. 

 Pat, Paul and Andrew

 telling me no pictures

I don't think we need a paternity test