July- part I

July is my favorite month. Always so much fun going on and fun things to celebrate. We have 3 July birthdays, the Fourth of July and just lots of other fun. My birthday was a good day. We went to see the movie Monsters University. We all really liked it and had a good time. Then later that night, after presents, brownies and ice cream (yes, I wanted brownies, not cake) we went down to Denver for their Fourth of July celebration. First, we stopped and ate at Noodles and Company for dinner and then walked over to the park where the party was. We ended up getting seats at the very back but it was ok because we could still hear the music. We had a while until the firework show so we pulled out some books and games to pass the time. It was lots of fun. All the kids were really good and the firework show was good and we had a fun time! I always love watching fireworks on my birthday.

 

The next day was of course the Fourth of July. This is my favorite holiday and it's been a little bit of a challenge as the mom of little kids and wife to a husband who doesn't like crowds or parades. I mean, that's what you get with the Fourth of July. The morning didn't start out pretty but I took a little break and went to the craft store to get some things for the kids to decorate. We ended up decorating hats and faces. I tried to get shirts but didn't realize that they had to be washed and cleaned the day before. Next year. The kids love having their faces painted and luckily they're ok with my "artistic" ability.

 Of course we had to have a good ol' summer lunch with hot dogs, chips, baked beans, corn on the cob and root beer. Nothing like a summer lunch to get in the Fourth of July mood.

We were told that our city (Broomfield)  had a great show so we thought we'd give it a try. We didn't want to go too early and just sit around, so we got there about 2 hours before dark and just played some games outside and hung around. The firework show was actually pretty good. Only bad thing was they didn't have any music along with it. Still a good show though.

On the 6th of July, no special day (aside from Suzanne's bday), but Brian planned a day for us and we went to this museum type place near Arvada. The kids had fun learning about blacksmiths and how people lived in the the 1800's. We went into a building that was the school house and she taught them about dunce caps. They seemed to enjoy that, and ringing the school bell.

 After that, we went to this lake in Arvada and had a blast! It was so much fun. About half way through all the sudden the sky got dark and this major wind kicked in. The kids were scared 'cause it was crazy. People's tents collapsed and blew over and this huge raft was blowing towards us. It was kind of fun but the little 2 were scared. It finally calmed down and we finished up pretty soon after that. It was pretty crazy!

A few months back Julia and I had talked about her coming out and surprising Brian for his birthday and we were able to pull it off! Brian had to work on his bday but I worked it out so he'd only have to do a half day. He didn't know that, I did it with Chuck and the ladies up front. So Julia got in at 8:00 in the morning and I picked her up, came and got the kids for a little bit, then told Brian we'd meet up for lunch. I got there a few minutes early so Julia could walk into his office and surprise him and boy did she! They both ended up in tears. It was a surprise well pulled off! I was so excited for him. We went out to get some lunch at a hamburger place and then went to a miniature golf/play place and stayed there for a couple hours. I think the rest of the night we just had ice cream cake and presents and played games. It was so fun to have Julia here. She was great to help around the house, clean some, play with the kids, do the slip n' slide with them and play games with Brian and I. We loved having her visit!

Julia stayed for Bella's bday. Bella wanted to go to the lake that we had gone to a few days ago and I thought that would be perfect fun with Julia, so we did and it was lots of fun. We came back around the time Brian got off work and had presents and watched the birthday video. I love doing those for them. They seem to really enjoy them.

July is such a fun month and the first half sure held up to the expectation!