On the actual 4th, our plan was to go see the fireworks in one of the burbs. We looked into Hilliard's, but it seemed a little hard to get in and out of the area, and there were several other distractions (fair rides and games) that I was not interested fending off. We ended up going to the Marysville fireworks with my parents. Well, let me tell you - those were a treat! They were extremely good for local fireworks. I suspect that Honda Marysville must sponsor them. The evening was perfect, and that made my weekend.
So now let me tell you about all of the "busts" leading up to those fireworks and the events afterward. So of course it was raining all day Thursday, and were looking for something fun to do with the girls. We thought we had a brilliant idea of taking them swimming at Matt's gym. It was indoors, and they would get to burn off some their energy. It was perfect! We got everyone in their swimwear, and drove up to Dublin. And sure enough, there was a sign posted on the door, CLOSED for the 4th of July. Ok. Bust #1. So maybe we should have realized that certain places would be closed for the holiday. Next we called the Hilliard YMCA to see if they were open and had open swim today. Yes, they were open until 5:00, and they had open swim. Alas, we headed south back to Hilliard to the YMCA. When we got there, we saw the pool was outside. Matt went inside before we unloaded to ensure that there was another pool indoors. However, he found out that you can't visit the Hilliard Y with a day pass. When did that happen??? You have to be a member. And it cost well over $1000.00 for an annual family membership! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of!!! Bust #2. In desperation, we took a long shot and drove by the Hilliard Aquatics Center on the off chance they were open. Of course, they weren't. Bust #3. The kids were very disappointed, and we were sufficiently frustrated. We had been in the van for over an hour at this point. So we headed down to Hilliard Rome to get something to eat and figured that we could go to the McDonalds that had the play equipments, with the hoped of appeasing our sad children. Would you know we get all the way down there, and the play equipment at the McDonalds was outdoors?! Bust #4. Thankfully I remembered seeing indoor play equipment at the Chickfila up the street. So we went up there and ate an early dinner and the kids finally got to play. (It was better food than McDonalds for the record too.) After dinner we headed out to Papa and Grammy's for awhile before the fireworks. It ended up working out well. Whew! It was a long way to get there though.
Saturday it was raining on and off, but Ellen called around noon and said that it wasn't supposed to rain again until 4 or 5 and asked if we wanted to come swim at the Quarry, which is near wear she lives. So we packed everyone up once and again and headed to the Quarry to attempt to swim again. (And we wanted to see Ellen at some point on the holiday weekend.) We weren't in the water, which was freezing, 30 minutes before the rain started again! And it was thundering, so I wasn't too comfortable letting the kids continue to swim. Bust #5. We let the kids eat some snacks with the hope of the rain stopping, but it didn't. So we left and headed to the grocery store. That evening Alan and Jayne came over to have dinner with us. Matt did a superb job on the grill, as usual, and it was delicious! We had an enjoyable evening visiting, eating ice cream, and letting the kids do sparklers on the back patio. It's what summer is all about!
The next weekend was the Prochaska 4th of July extravaganza. It was at my uncle Marty and aunt Dena's house this year. They live on 100 acres in Ross county, and we had a great time visiting, 4-wheeling, exploring the "farm.," and watching fireworks. The kids fished in the pond, swam in the pool (finally!), and played with explosives. (Because what's a 4th of July celebration without children playing with explosives?) We all had a great time. We only see these extended relatives about twice a year, so I always treasure these events and memories.
Even though we didn't get home until 1:30am that morning, I had a moment of insanity and wanted to take the kids up to the zoo that afternoon. We went up at about 4:30 with the intention of just doing a few things, one of which would be the dinosaur exhibit. Ever since we saw it back in June, Hannah has been asking to go back and has been watching the video on Matt's phone daily. It was about 95 degrees and 500% humidity. Hence we did the bare minimum. We took the girls on the boat ride twice, the carousel once, and went to the aquarium to cool off. Then we headed home. The kids had a blast, so it was worth it. But we were completely exhausted, and it made Monday a little difficult.
Last weekend we went to our friend, Maddie's, birthday party, which was a pool party. And the girls got to swim all afternoon. They swam til their hearts' content. They love Maddie and had fun doing the "luau" games. Even little Emma got to be in the pool this time. She loved the water and didn't want to get out.
Here are some quotes from the month:
Laura - describing something she saw, "It's wicked cool!" Where did she learn that?
Getting frustrated with Hannah, "Patience is a virtue Hannah and I'll be done in one minute!"
"Mom, do you know why I don't like the store? It's stopping and walking and stopping and walking!"
Hannah - "You like church and I like restawants."
Emma, I think, might be our orneriest kid yet. She is entering the tantrum stage, where she throws herself on the floor and screams when she doesn't get what she wants. She loves to be with the girls and play with them. When they play "puppy," Emma will pretend to be a puppy too. She will pant and bark and crawl on the ground. It's so cute.
So that's pretty much our July. Only a few more weeks until school starts. Mommy is not ready for that! But that will be another blog post.
