{Merica}

1. Favorite Holiday. I decided it really is. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE me some Christmas, but when you think about it - Christmas is so busy and crazy. I mean, I obviously love the meaning behind Christmas and the family time and all that jazz, but I just wish it could be more relaxing so I could focus on the reason for the season. The 4th of July on the other hand is all about relaxation. Chilling on the deck, at the park, at the lake, at the wherever you go to chill. Eating food - lots of it. Napping. Hanging out. Pure amazing awesomeness.

2. Even more favorite holiday with baby. Red, White, and Blue all week long. Fun food. Fun everything. I.love.being.a.mommy.

Just a few (yep... this wasn't all) of Trice's red, white, and blue outfits for the week!

3. I realize there's one day left to the weekend. I don't anticipate anything blog-worthy happening and if it should, then I promise I will dedicate an entire blog to "The last day of the holiday weekend in which Grace sobbed because she doesn't handle fun things coming to an end very well."


Wednesday night my aunt Joyce, uncle George, cousin Katie, and our friend, Arthur, all arrived at our house. Trice was already asleep, but when he woke up, he came out to say Hello to everyone. This was obviously a mistake as he did not want to go back to bed and put up quite the fight. Oh well - you only live once, right?!

Thursday morning we woke up and I prepared a patriotic breakfast for everyone. My aunt introduced me to the fried egg sandwich. I've seriously been missing out - pretty sure I'll be eating one of those EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING from now on. So yummy! She said my grandpa loved eating them and couldn't believe I'd never had one.

Trice's breakfast wasn't quite what I had planned, but I had a minor mishap at Walmart the night before and didn't have all my supplies - it's okay because I don't think this will cause him to think the flag only has white stripes. He had toast with yogurt, nanners, and blueberries. Clearly, he was excited.

And so was auntie Joyce...

 But Trice wasn't the only one who got to enjoy a patriotic breakfast! For the adults it was waffles with some powdered sugar. I didn't have any (I was too busy drooling over my fried egg sandwich), but I was told they were yummy! 

Arthur was clearly impressed.

 After everyone ate breakfast and got ready it was time for Trice to squeeze in a morning nap and the girls to head to the store. I've lived here for 3 summers now but have never gone to HyVee on the 4th of July -- now I know why. I have never seen anything quite like it. You couldn't get out of people's way because no matter where you stepped, you were in 10 other people's way. There was no room to walk .. or even breathe, really. We're talking worse than Black Friday chaos. And according to my dad, it had been even busier that morning. No wonder the 4th of July almost kills him!

We headed to lunch at one of our favorite lakeside restaurants -- The Ritz. I hadn't been there forever since we don't go out to eat much anymore. We figured we'd wait FOREVER to get a table and our food, but we lucked out and found a table right away. It helped that my aunt suggested we do a late lunch to miss the bigger crowds. She's so smart. ;) 

We really like pretending we are a big boy!

Guys, I want to be in that lake...

The Hoerman family + Trice

The boys and their fish bowls .. yum!

Trice in a cup - not to be confused with a "Trice on a stick."

Lookin' cute!

Lookin' dorky

We were a little outnumbered by the boys!

Love our family!

Trice hanging out with Uncle Geo.

 We started to get pretty warm so Trice and I went back to the car and cooled off in the air. When they got done paying, we decided to go on a little walk so they could see the bridge over the lake. Trice LOVED watching the boats go under.

and  did not want his picture taken...

It was back to the house for naps and cooling off before fireworks! We headed to the park around 6 and Trice and I walked with the Hoermans around the amusement park for awhile. Katie won a prize for Trice!

Ashlee & I 

And a little throwback Thursday Saturday for you...

4th of July 2012

Hanging out before the concert!

He was obviously interested in my bubble blowing ...

'Merica

Our first 4th of July as a family of 3. 

And another oldie for your entertainment...

And in other news -- Trice is no longer afraid of grass. Of course when I WANT him to be confined to a blanket he decides he loves it. 

Mmm.. orange banana!

Being a mommy is seriously the funnest thing I've ever done. Hands down.

Trice got to watch some of the private fireworks but passed out just before the actual fireworks display. He was pretty amazed by the bright lights in the sky, though!

Fast forward to Friday ... 

First of all, it went WAY too fast. We slept in (only because Trice joined us in bed) so by the time everyone got up and around it was already 10 .. and then something crazy happened. We lost power so we decided to go to a few little shops in town only to find out the entire town was without power. Walmart was locking it's doors - traffic was backed up everywhere - I really thought we were on an episode of Revolution or else the zombie apocalypse was finally here. I don't know if you've ever been to this area for the 4th of July -- but the power could not have picked a worse time to go out. From what I hear, there was basically a riot at HyVee.

We went mini-golfing in the afternoon which is turning out to be a 4th of July tradition. Trice got a lot of holes in one. What can I say - he takes after his mama! 

Mama, where are you?!

 At this point, we were hot and sweaty and Trice was 3 hours past nap time... so the lovely port-a-potty background will have to do...

And this... this is just epic.

Trice was out before we even got home. We stopped by the Barefoot quick - long enough to snap this pic.. and then it was home to hang out on the deck for the evening. 

Look like fun? Well, it was. It was lots of fun. Lots of whydoesithavetobeover fun?! Come visit us next 4th of July. Make your reservations early - this hotel fills up far in advance. ;)