Party Hopping

Wow.

We have had quite the weekend. I think we stuffed as much activity and as little sleep into 48 hours as humanly possible. As a result, my brain has officially shut itself down and I have a case of writers block. Luckily, I have many, many pictures to use as ammunition for this blog post. Get ready, folks.

Okay, I have to start with this, because I am too excited to share the pictures...

On the night of the 4th, the three of us packed into the bed of Chris' truck and parked (with the other 500 neighbors) on a perfect little hill that overlooked the city. Josh was up waaaaaay past his bedtime by the time the fireworks started to explode, but he didn't mind one bit. No words can ever match the hilarity of the pictures capturing the various reactions to the fireworks. I won't even try.

He added his own hand motions and sound effects, "KABOOOMMMs" and "BAAAMMM!!" I love, love, love watching fireworks, but watching Josh was much more enjoyable.


Rewind a few hours.......



We started the day bright and early at our neighborhood's 4th of July parade. It was my first time to attend and I was so excited to see the amazing number of people in our neighborhood that came out to celebrate. It makes me so happy that Josh will grow up in such a special place with wonderful people around him.
As with any decent parade, there was an over abundance of candy being thrown at high speeds directly towards the kids. Despite his love for sugary treats, Josh wasn't as competitive as some of the kids who were diving into the street and tackling each other for the candy. He did manage to get his hands on a red and a blue lollipop. He thought it would be appropriate to lick them simultaneously, such a patriot he is. We were lucky enough to stand with the Harvey's at the parade. They have been friend's of ours since college and it has been so much fun watching their family grow.
I love this picture as our little Longhorns (Josh and the two eldest Harvey Boys) watched as the fire engine drove past them with the siren on. I think this may have been when Josh's head started the imploding process.


And, this is the moment Josh's head officially imploded.

A gymnasium filled with bounce houses, holy shnikes.

" Humm, I wonder how much trouble I would get in if I turned this hose on?"

Josh: "Ride 'em cowboy, Yee Haw!!"

After the parade, there was a big neighborhood party. There was a blue grass band (Josh's favorite kind of music- don't judge, it's his father's influence- NOT mine), popcorn, pony rides, fire engines, balloons, a petting zoo, clowns, cake, and the list goes on. It was pretty much "amazing," as Josh continually pointed out.

You would think that all that activity was enough for one day, but no... we kept going. After a yummy lunch and ice cream treat at Braum's (possibly my new favorite place to be bad), we headed home for a recharging cat nap. Then, the party hopping of the weekend began. We started at a law school friend's house for a nice little pool party. Josh had a blast spraying all the adults with a Super Soaker 2000 and playing with the floating flamingo beer holders. Then onto The Wood's house for a quick beer (for us, not Josh) and a game or two of washers. Then, up the hill to watch the "Joshua show," I mean, fireworks show. Then, home to sleep away the awesome day.... only to wake up Sunday for MORE party hopping....

We headed out early for Jacksonville to celebrate PaPa's 89th birthday. My only goal for the day was to capture a photo of the 4 generations. Josh had just woke up from a nap and was still in "the zone," but I got a shot of everyone looking at the camera! We had a fun afternoon with Chris' family, as always.


Conveniently, since we were in Jacksonville for the day, we were able to hop on over to Mason's 4th birthday party! I can't believe it was 4 years ago that I was Mason's nurse in the NICU! Mason, you amaze me, Happy Birthday!! We were also lucky to meet Mason's new little sister, Anslee. She is absolutely perfect and I stole her away from everyone to get some good baby cuddles. I love holding newborns, there is nothing better in life! As you can see, Josh was a lucky boy to attend this birthday party. They had a water bounce house, a pool, and most importantly- lots of trucks for the boys to play with. He had a great time and it was a perfect "pre-stuck in the car for 2 hours" activity.

Whew! And that was our crazy, crazy weekend. Josh started "summer school" today, so more fun for him and a little rest for me!
Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!