4th of July

Our first 4th of July in California was pretty good.  Our original intention was to go to a parade with Charles & Desiree at 9am.  However, when we woke up at 6am, tired, we rethought our plans and went back to sleep for a while.

Instead, we had a nice, leisurely breakfast and then headed to the neighborhood park.  It was still early, so the heat hadn't built up yet.  Anna and I found a patch of dandelions with long stems.  We gathered up a few bunches.  I made a flower wreath for Anna's head.  I think that's the first time in years I've made one of those.  Even Matthew modeled it for a bit.

After the park, we had a nice lunch and everyone went down for a nap.  Yay!  I love it when everyone gets to rest all at the same time.

That afternoon, we headed to Charles and Desiree's house for a barbeque.  We thought it would only be us, them, and Desiree's high-school friend.  As it turned out, the friend had a husband and son with her.  We also had a friend that's living with them and her friend with two daughters plus two other friends of Desiree's.  It was quite the group!

There was a lot of talking amongst the adults and a lot of playing amongst the kids.  What I thought was the most impressive about the barbeque was that it was 99% fresh, whole foods!  We had chicken kebobs, natural hot dogs, real chicken brats, fruit salad, homemade bread, fresh pico and guacamole with whole corn chips as well as several other things I can't remember.  We were stuffed with all the good food.

When we got home, Anna took a bath and the kids went to bed.  Fireworks are illegal because of the fire danger, plus the kids were tired.  Steve and I ended the day by watching Day 2 of our Lord of the Rings marathon.