Yankee Doodle Dandies

We enjoyed a heck of a 4th of July weekend this year. The best thing about it is that it was filled with old and new friends. We are so fortunate to have had so many wonderful people come into our lives over the years and this weekend was a great time to reflect upon that.

We started the weekend with Noah’s oldest friend – Lucy, whom he met in preschool. She has two great kids, and it is really amazing to see her kids and ours being good friends at the same age Noah and Lucy were when they first met.

This holiday weekend Lucy and I took the kids to the San Diego County Fair – a place I have avoided like the plague for many years. Fried butter and humongous bovines have never quite appealed to me, but Lucy reassured me there would be a lot for the kids to enjoy and she knew her way around well enough that I wouldn’t end up lost, fried and put on a stick.

We all had a fabulous time. I could write for days about all we did there, as we stayed for almost eight hours! But here are the highlights:

I rode a monster truck with Ethan:

Lucas rode a pony named Peanut:

The boys lived out their lifelong dream of driving bumper cars:

We ate fair-style:

We played in the agricultural center:

We returned home, filthy, full, without a penny in our pockets, and already asking about next year!

The fun continued the next day at a pool party with some of our new neighborhood friends. We’ve been fortunate to meet some great people over by our new house and we spent a great afternoon and evening with them, followed by fun at the local 4th of July parade the next morning.

Apparently, the 4th of July is a big deal out here in Scripps Ranch. After the parade, we walked with our friends to the local park a couple of blocks from our house, where a huge festival was held. The boys enjoyed jumpys, slides, sno cones, and free ice cream!

After resting for a while at home, we headed out again to spend the evening with our old group of friends. It is quite nice to share these holidays with those we’ve known for so long, and many of whom now have kids running or toddling around.

We didn’t have the usual 4th of July weather, but you won’t hear me complaining about having to snuggle under blankets with my guys while watching the fireworks!

We returned home and spent the next day with good friends in town from Seattle. That is, until Noah came down with a fever. Over the next two days, it became clear that this wasn't just any virus he was dealing with. On July 7th, he was diagnosed with chicken pox! Thus, it is two weeks later I am writing about our wonderful holiday, now that Noah has recovered and we are back to our usual summer activities. Whew!