HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

As usual, we had a very busy, overscheduled July 4 holiday weekend. The 4th fell on a Saturday so we started the day by watching our neighborhood parade. Mommy's friend Aunt Meredith went to the parade with us since her snobby south Austin neighborhood doesn't have one. :^0 It's a very small, old-fashioned deal with firetrucks, people of no particular importance throwing candy, and anyone who wants to can walk or ride in it. The boys love all of this and are mesmerized by the whole thing. We do have a lot of fancy classic cars in our parade which even mom and dad enjoy seeing. After the parade, we went next door for swimming & grilling with our neighbors the Kesters who have a daughter Kathryn (5) and twins Sarah & Thomas (almost 3). They invited the whole street so there was lots of fun to be had.

We took a nap break and then the real fun started. Did I mention that Griffin got a bad sinus infection & pink eye 2 days before so we started a new antibiotic that tore his guts to pieces and forced liquid poop to shoot violently out of his diaper every time he pooped? So, on to the fun. We drove up to Round Rock to spend July 4th eve at Tara. Seriously. Our friends Cindy Bourland & Jon Belsher invited us out to share the "lobster-gram" they had received as a wedding present. Their house sits on 6 acres complete with that white criss-cross horse farm fence you always wanted, 2 private ponds with swans (black AND white), a great dane, a Jack Russell terrier, a pool, a cabana with outdoor kitchen and a gorgeous, perfectly furnished home with columns in front, a winding staircase, and NOTHING out of place. As you might have imagined from this description, Ms. Cindy & Dr. Jon don't have kids (yet). So we were horrified at every precarious step the kids took, every bite of cat food Griff got down and, of course, waiting on bated breath for the liquid poop to arrive next. We bundled Griff up in 2 Swimmers diapers and 2 waterproof, vinyl swim diapers and took the plunge. Everybody did fine and mom and dad greatly enjoyed the star shaped caviar with cream cheese Cindy prepared as a poolside appetizers (the boys got hot dogs & fruit with strawberry cupcakes, white icing, red/blue decor) and served with champagne. We next tried to put Griff to sleep in a pack & play which took more than an hour due to the severe diaper rash he had by then acquired. After that ordeal, Cal was having none of it and insisted on joining us for dinner. Which was AMAZING. Ms. Cindy knocked herself out with surf & turf, a clam bake, caprese salad, bread, etc., etc. and apple cobbler. And then the fireworks started...Since their house is not in the city limits, their neighbors are semi-professional pyromaniacs - on all sides. We enjoyed an amazing display and Cal loved it until about 10:00 when he hit a wall and started to get wacky. He finally decided he no longer liked the fireworks and they were scary and we MUST LEAVE NOW! So we pretty quickly piled everyone in the car and drove home even though we had planned to spend the night. Needless to say, we owe Cindy & Jon a big one.

The next day we drove out to daddy's friend's Barb's house in Blanco to meet her, Henry (her son), mutual friend Katherine & Baby Jack for the day. The guys did fine but had little interest in swimming in the pool despite the 103 (again) heat. They napped briefly but were generally off-kilter all day and didn't do too well. The diaper rash and continuing explosive pooh didn't help. We did get a couple of cute pics of the kiddos hanging out. But the BEST part of the weekend was the flat tire we got on the way home while Cal was napping. Seriously. Daddy got out and changed it (again, 103 degree heat is super fun!!!) while mommy & Griff played on the side of the road. Cal slept through the whole thing and we left the car running. I know, huge waste of energy and terrible for the environment - did I MENTION THE LIQUID POOP? At this point I would have done anything to keep Cal asleep. We finally got home about 6:00 and jumped in the pool to cool everyone off and put an end to the long holiday weekend. Can't wait for next year!