Independence Day weekend 2009

What is better that a long weekend? A long weekend spent with your family!

We had a wonderful time celebrating the Independence Day with our friends.

On Friday night we got all ready for the next day's celebration and a trip to the beach. At the sunset Jon and Larissa sat out front and blew soap bubbles. It was a little challenging getting the bubbles going, with the wind blowing in our direction, but I think they figured it out.

Larissa set the stage.

and Jon followed.

On Saturday he had a late start, in part because we stayed up too late the night before and in part because our friends' invite didn't specify the time. We played it safe and aimed for lunch-ish. One thing we didn't count on was driving through the tail end of the Hillsboro parade on our way to a highway. All the festivities were over and people were heading back home, sharing the road with us.

Weather by the ocean was in low 70 (about 20 degree difference from home). Actually too chilly for us to get down to our swimsuits. Even though we all had them on, we opted to keep the top layer on.

Wasting no time, kids got to building sand castles and moats. After Larissa wiped out in the waves, I realized that I best take her insulin pump off. Her glucose numbers were good, she didn't feel like eating, and with all the running she managed to keep it off for 5+ hours, while keeping her numbers pretty stable.

At first Larissa worked by herself.

Then, Larissa and Jon worked as a team.

Gabe worked alone for the most part (except for the help from Mom when he was running low on energy).

In my opinion, water was freezing. My ankles lost feeling as soon as I got my feet in the water. But, that didn't seem to bother the kids a bit. They went right in and played in the ocean for a while.

Jon wasn't allowed to go too far, so he chased the waves. I don't really think he mind it too much though.

To warm up kids used hot sand. One downfall to that is that now I have sand in my truck, in the washer, in the dryer, in their bath tub...

BBQ was very nice. Some of the best burgers I ever had. Larissa didn't feel like eating, so I scored two burgers as a result. Probably not the best thing for my diet, but so worth it!

If that wasn't enough, we still had to go home and fire up some fireworks. Typically, we don't buy any, but we made an exception this year. Oregon is pretty strict on the safety, so we figured, if it's legal, it can't be that dangerous... Kids were beyond excited!

Larissa was a little afraid at first, but braved it out for a sparkler.
Gabe went on and on, "more, I want more!"
Jon started off slow, but then we couldn't stop him :-)
Even Dad took some time off from lighting the fireworks to enjoy them.
We finished with the BIG BANG. Made the neighbors proud, I am sure.