The three day weekend was great. I think the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday of all. Simply because it is a nice simple few days of fun, family, and sun without all the extra hassle of being a major holiday with presents and turkey.
Plus, I love grilling out and I love fireworks.
Here is how the weekend started.
Thursday night we went to the river to go see the Air-show and Dubuque's Fireworks. It is so much fun now because of Jaren. He brings the youthfulness and fun of life out again. A Chinook helicopter flew overhead and Jaren was so amazed at it that his finger couldn't even track it as he followed it across the sky. There were loud planes and fast planes. He got to play with other boys along the banks and discovered turtles. At one point I found myself watching four little boys ages 5 to 2. Brendan kept on going into the "tall grass" (the boundary I set so the boys couldn't fall into the Mississippi) so I kept on pulling the brute out of the grass and plopping him on the correct side. It was a lot of fun. Brendan made it a game.
With all the friends and snacks and running, Jaren just wanted to sleep by the time the Fireworks started. We stayed and watched most of the show so see if he would perk up. The best he did was watch them sedately through the fingers covering his eyes.
Friday morning had me freaking out about my house. It wasn't clean! Do you know why? Because. I let myself go have a good time at the river last night!
After a mad dash to clean the house and do 6 loads of laundry and make 2 cakes. We left to go to the farm around noon. I am so glad Seth is around to de-crazify me. Otherwise I think I would have gone mad long ago from my OCD tendencies.
So we had a nice grill out at the farm. The got a cookie for my birthday. It was so nice!
I cut it and ate it and I got a huge headache from the sugar! Yum! Then we went for a walk in the pasture. Jaren of course demanded a tractor ride because that is obviously what you do on a farm. On our walk we stopped by the creek that runs through the farm. Its topography has changed much due to the rains this year. There is now a nice little set of falls cut out of the limestone. Laura, Travis, Jaren, and I decided to walk the creek looking for skipping rocks and sticks to race down the creek.
Then we found the mud and I'm sorry to say, Jaren got caught in the crossfire but he enjoyed it too. At first Laura and I gained up on Travis and then Laura and Travis gained up on ME! Nevertheless we all got quite muddy. I think Travis lost.
We needed showers by time we were back at the house, I wasn't even clean enough to get in the truck!
Mud therapy is the best therapy. I was much calmer and ready to have people over to my place for the Cascade fireworks that evening.
There was a lot of food again and I of course over ate. I rationalized it though. I had fresh organic lettuce from a friend's garden on my brat patty and the cake I made (well one of them) was chock full of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries!
It was so nice to have everyone over, friends and family both! Thank you for the gifts of course but most of all thank you for your love and your time. We are so blessed to have family like you all.
This time, Jaren stayed awake for the fireworks. He enjoyed them tremendously. It wasn't the best view in the world but it sure was fun!
The rest of the weekend was winding down, with one more cookout. One of my best friends from childhood was back from Colorado. Alex's family has a party for him in Earlville and we got to spend a few more precious hours with him before he left to take the trek back the next day. I sure miss that guy! Why doesn't he move back?!
We recuperated on Sunday. Still exhausted today, but I don't regret it. How could you?
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