Woznation

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend in Chicagoland!!  The kids had only been here for a week before we had a wonderful long holiday weekend together.  The weather was great, and we really enjoyed spending time as a family after nearly a month of living in different states. We love being close to good friends in the area, too.  Unlike when we moved to Baltimore and knew no one and had no clue on what to do or where to go — our friends here have been so awesome about making us feel welcome in the area and helping us find things to do.  On Friday, we went to a cook out at Kursten’s.  There were tons of kids there, with lots of children-friendly games and plenty of adult beverages and activities as well:

Then on Saturday we went to the Barrington parade, where we happened to set up shop only a block away from Jared and Karen.  Its so great to run-in-to good friends 🙂  Wil and Evie loved the parade — people threw out candy! (Unlike the towson parade last year!) and they had lots of characters, music, firetrucks, etc.  It was a good parade.

After naps, we shucked corn and ate watermelon – two July 4th staples in this house.  Then hung out at a new playground (can I just quickly mention how awesome the parks are around here?!  Great playgrounds and clean air-conditioned bathrooms! Amazing!).

Once we got Evie to bed, Wil and I snuck back out to the fireworks.  We had only attempted the fireworks once before, and Wil was a bit too young to really ‘get-it’.  But this year Wil had tons of energy and was really excited.  We got there a bit early and fought off a lot of bugs.  Wil kept asking to get back in the car and go home, but I made him stick it out until we saw at least the first 5 minutes. I was worried we were going to have another fireworks ‘flop’.  But once they got started he loved it! We figured out we would be able to see them from the car, so we watched the rest bug-free and with radio.  It was truly awesome.

Holidays are getting much more manageable and exciting. Especially my one-on-one time with Wil this year.  It gives me a glimpse of future holidays when all the kids are old enough to enjoy things.  I can’t wait!