July 4th Fun!

After our Family Reunion, Valeriane, Sean and their kids stayed for a few extra days to spend Independence Day with us! The kids had a lot of fun playing together....there is one particular memory the boys have STILL not forgotten and bring up often. The kids were all in the backyard playing, probably waiting for us to go somewhere and the adults inside decided to play a little trick on them. While they all stopped playing and were sitting in the middle of the lawn jack turned on the sprinklers, of course the first in initial reaction for them was shock...then they thoroughly enjoyed playing int he sprinklers! The boys still ask us to "surprise" them by turning on the sprinklers!

 We decided to spend July 3rd downtown exploring. We went to the Aquarium and had fun seeing all the sea creatures, and a few things we didn't expect to see like a tiger and mermaids!

After we were at the aquarium we decided it was only right that we should visit the REI Flagship store....one of our favorite places! They have a beautiful walking path outside, and a little kids play area upstairs! There's just something about looking at all those camping gadgets, tents, sleeping bags, hiking boots...I could go on, but won't. (I remember when I was young REI was our absolute favorite store to go to as kids too...at least it was my favorite haha!)

Valeriane and Sean happened to hear someone talk about a fireworks show/symphony concert that was going on that night in Civic park, so we all decided to go....even though we did not plan at all for it...which sometimes does not work out well with young children.... in the end we had a ton of fun listening to the concert and hope to go again next year! I absolutely love hearing symphony concerts, and of course fireworks shows are always fun! We were lucky too, because on 4th of July all the fireworks shows were banned because there were so many wild fires in our state at that time, we hardly had ANY rain this summer!

On the fourth of July we had a fun cookout, full of delicious food, fun, and family!

Another day they were visiting with us we went north of town to an indoor water park that was part of a community center- the kids had a blast! Valeriane also kicked my butt and took me out of my comfort zone (my neighborhood) and took me for a bike ride around the reservoir. It was great to have her coach me a bit, it really helped me not be as afraid to leave my neighborhood and be among other cyclists and pedestrians haha! (I'm hoping to be ready for a more intense year of cycling next spring/summer!)

We're so glad to live close to the Wilson's so we can see them more often, like when we lived in Tucson! Now....to get the rest of the family to move closer as well, and join us in our fun.....