Fourth of July

Today (yesterday, now that it's past midnight) we took a break from our yearly Fourth of July tradition and tried something new. My sister Sarah invited us to join them at Dierkes Lake in Twin Falls. It is right by Shoshone Falls, which I had also never been to. Twin Falls is halfway between her town and mine so it was a perfect place to meet. Our Aunt Michele and Uncle John came too and we had a grand old time.

On the way there, the kids started whining that they were hungry. Since it wasn't even snack time yet, we told them to be patient. Then Vander reported that Annalee had "a bunch of apples." Daddy asked, "How many apples do you have, Annalee?"

"Eight."

Eight?! We burst out laughing. That kid loves her apples! While packing her activity bag for the car, she had decided that she needed eight apples, I guess.

We got to the lake at 11:00 and immediately slathered sunscreen on all our fair little bodies. Then we ate lunch at stone tables in a picnic shelter because we were starving, the apples notwithstanding. Michele and John had brought fried chicken and Sarah and I supplied the rest, including chips, cherries, watermelon, and rolls. Then the kids went swimming.

They have a unique swimming area there, with a small area of the lake blocked off by concrete barriers for little kids to wade in and a larger area surrounded by a circular dock for swimming. It is patrolled by life guards and anyone under 18 has to pass a swim test to be allowed in the big part. The only kids who did the swim test were Calvin and Paisley. A few of the others were upset that they wouldn't be allowed in the deep part with their life jackets and floatie toys but eventually they found other ways to have fun. There was a little bit of a sandy beach. Annalee constructed an impressive sand fortress with a moat. Bellana got a hold of a life jacket and spent almost the whole time floating in water up to her neck while walking along the bottom with her hands. She loved it! Vander had a harder time finding something to do. There was only one sand bucket so he couldn't build what he wanted while Annalee was. The floatie toy he wanted had a hole. But he finally borrowed one of Sarah's life jackets too and had fun floating around. At one point, six of the kids had a rousing game of "monster" going, where they chased each other from one end of the wading pond to the other. Ronald was the first one out because he just got too cold. He came back to the blankets to hang out with Michele, Bob, Zaylia and I. (Uncle John went in the water and swam to the dock with Calvin and Paisley. Then they tried to "get" him, because getting Uncle John is always the best game!)  Bellana had to get out not too long after that because she was too cold too. The weather today was soooooo nice. It wasn't too hot, wasn't too cold, wasn't humid, and had just the slightest breeze to make things comfortable--unless you were wet, heh heh. Those that were wet either stayed in the water or got dry as quickly as possible once they were out!

It took an incredible amount of time to get everyone dressed and to move all the blankets and towels and coolers and food and backpacks back to the cars, but it was a lovely afternoon and we had nowhere to be, so no one was in a rush. Nathan took the kids to fly a kite in a large open area and then Uncle John pulled out some slingshot rockets that he'd brought. They nearly lost them in a tree a few times, but Calvin managed to get the last one that wouldn't fall out on its own by climbing up while we all shouted directions to him about the rocket he couldn't see. It was around this point that I realized we hadn't taken any pictures today. We'd all been so busy having fun that we were too busy to document it! So I took a few pictures of the rocket-launching.

Aunt Michele enjoyed holding Zaylia, who was fairly content. Michele exclaimed that Zaylia is such a calm baby. She really is, as long as she's not tired, poopy, or hungry. She is our "Observer." She likes to look around and see what's going on. And she doesn't mind other people holding her, since I've been passing her around at church since she was two weeks old. It was nice of Michele to hold her so I could watch the kids swimming.

Finally, somewhere around 3 or 4 p.m., the cars were packed and it was time to say good-bye. We came there with four kids but we left with only two because Vander and Annalee are going to stay with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Bob for a week! As they got the car loaded up, only then did it seem to fully dawn on Bob that there were going to be six kids in his car and his house for the next few days. He looked a little like a man on the way to the gallows, haha! What a character! Vander only got a little choked up as he said good-bye. I reminded him that he was going to have a ton of fun and that he could call me if he wanted. Considering that the last time he stayed with Sarah I couldn't get him to stop playing long enough to complete a sentence to me on the phone, I think he'll be fine.

Now with only two little girls, we drove past Shoshone Falls and determined that we definitely want to come back another day when we have more time. It's so pretty! We got back to our home town without too much trouble: the girls napped most of the way. We decided to stop by a July 4th party/potluck we'd been invited to. It was fun to visit with friends from our ward and eat more good food, including melon (which Zaylia is quickly learning to love to suck on) and yummy desserts, like chocolate chip cookies and little custard pies. It was past Bellana's bedtime but she'd had a late nap in the car so we let her run around with the other little kids and get high on fruit drink pouches.

After 8:00 we decided it was time to get her to bed, so we came home and unpacked the car. Nathan put Bellana down while I took care of Zaylia. We hung out for a little while until the sun went down and the fireworks began! Our neighbors down the street were shooting off (illegal) fireworks into the air, right over our house. We had been considering not waking Bellana up this year but with them going right over her head we decided we had to. (Amazingly, both she and Zaylia have been sleeping through the cannon fire last night and tonight. WHY do they shoot them off for a week before and after?) We usually watch the fireworks from the roof but decided to skip it this year because we didn't want to give our little tornado any ideas about climbing out her window herself. We could still see so much from our front lawn. Groups at either end of the street and one street in front of us kept the show going for over an hour. At first, Bellana was disoriented and cold. She said she was scared and kept crying. We couldn't let her go inside like that, being afraid of fireworks and not able to sleep. So we wrapped her in a blanket. She woke up a little more and soon she was ooohing and aaaahing over the light show. Although, she still maintained, "too loud, Daddy." She was so precious to listen to as she watched the fireworks. She would point and call out the colors. She complained often about the noise. She was enthralled with the floating lanterns. Then she pointed at the stars above us and cheered in wonder, "Fireworks!" I think she's right.

I tried to take a video of her talking about it but it came out really dark and she didn't say much once I started recording. I pulled out some glow stick bracelets I'd been saving and she and Daddy played with them and made things out of them like drumsticks, a crown, a necklace, etc. I loved seeing her cuddled on Daddy's lap.

It made me realize that she gets shuffled around a lot in the busy-ness of our family. I order Vander and Annalee around and expect them to obey, because they can, but then I do the same with Bellana and get frustrated when she doesn't listen. But she's not on their same level. Sitting with her tonight, it reminded me of when we only had Annalee, of how much time I spent showing her things, explaining things to her, helping her learn and understand. I need to do more of that with Bellana.

This week will kind of be a trip back in time to five years ago when I had a three-year-old Annalee and a baby Vander. I remember being so stressed out and overwhelmed then. But having come through that and gained greater confidence in myself, two kids seems like a vacation! I am grateful for the things I've learned as a parent. I'm grateful for this special time with Bellana and Zaylia. And I'm grateful for this wonderful country we live in.

Now, if only the fireworks would stop so I could go to sleep, I'd be grateful!