Freedom Days

Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th! I have to say ours was pretty darn good. Although, I woke up a bit sad and down. Around the holidays I really miss family. All around the neighborhood you see tons of cars parked around different houses and lots of kids jumping out of them to run into grandma's and grandpa's house. Tons of cousins all around for all to play with. I'm lucky to have my brother and his family here...at least one cousin for the girls to see. But we didn't see them this weekend...their neighborhood does a pretty big bash for the 4th. So, it was just us.

We spent the afternoon at Freedom Days, a festival in our little downtown area. It was actually so much better than when we went three years ago. They had a huge kid area with crafts and different activities for them to do. We basically spent most of our time there.

Although, there was this one "game" that I thought was pretty lame. Okay, so there's this big sandbox thing, pretty huge so lots of kids can be in it at the same time. The idea is the kids dig around and find coins to turn in for a little prize. Well, after about 40 minutes our kids found NOTHING! And keep in mind that the sandbox is in the full sun...kinda miserable if you ask me.

Finally, they come out covered in sand, and sweaty, disappointed and empty handed. So I told them to go over to the booth and tell the ladies that you've been in there for close to an hour and found nothing and can I please have a prize. Well, that old hag said "NO" to my children. "Sorry, you have to find a coin!". So they go back into the sand pit to try again. Another 10 minutes and still empty handed...so they ask again. Now, if you saw my children at this point (looking like they came out of some mine, and little Morgan's bottom lip quivering holding back tears she's so upset) how can any person say no to that?!! But again, she said no. So I decide to go over there and punch her in face (okay, not really)...I explained that my kids have been searching for close to an HOUR in that box, don't you think maybe you should put more coins in there!!! "Sorry ma'am, I can't give her a prize...she didn't find a coin!", is all she kept saying to me. Turns out, the "prize" were little trinkets (maybe worth 10 cents each)...something you'd find in a gumball machine! And, she had a FULL basket of them in front of her!! Keep in mind too that this was the last day of the festival, and only a few more hours left...you have fun with all those left over trinkets at the end of the day. It's a freakin' festival you old lady! Lighten up!!

So, other than that, the festival was great.


The girls loved the hair dressing booth.

So pretty!

On our way home...exhausted.

We ended the day with some grilled hamburgers and more ice cream. The girls stayed up extra late watching all the aerial fireworks coming out of the neighborhood through their window upstairs. Every now and then I would hear Haley clap.