July 4th Weekend

We had a great weekend! On Saturday my college roommate Karen and her friend came to visit us. They drove FIVE hours from Cincinnati. We all walked up to Forbes & Murray, showed them the neighborhood, ate lunch at Sun Penang, had gelati's from Rita's, and had lots of fun talking, laughing, and playing with the boys. Karen gave John David a car that races across the room and can knock down stuff, like toy blocks or the plastic barrel drums that came with it. He LOVED it! Oh and I can't forget all of the cute clothes they gave Rex. Some rockstar onesies---one was the Beatles, one Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon) and one ACDC. John David also got a t-shirt that matched Rex's ACDC onesie---that's their very first matching outfit! I love it. They left that evening and drove the five hours back home to Cincinnati. :( Wish they could have stayed longer but was thrilled they came. :)

After they left, we went to the Pittsburgh Regatta downtown. We parked and walked across the bridge on our way to the free concert when we looked down and saw some motorcycles doing a stunt show. David held up John David so he could see them doing crazy stunts off of a big ramp. After that, we made our way over to the free Craig Morgan concert and we got there just in time to hear "Love Remembers" and that "International Harvester" song. David found some kettle corn and we stood around to watch the concert. After it was over we headed back across the bridge to watch the fireworks at PNC Park. They shoot them off from the river. John David was thrilled to have a giant hill to roll down and he couldn't have cared less about the fireworks. He just kept running to the top of the hill and rolling back down.

That night when we finally got home, John David played with his new car from Karen and brought it upstairs when I said it was time to go night night. He held it against his chest while I read Katy and the Big Snow (his favorite book of the moment). When I rocked him afterwards, he held his car tucked under his little arm. Then when I laid him down in his bed, he held the car up against his face like a stuffed animal! If it hadn't been dark I would've taken a picture.

On Sunday we slept in, ate a late brunch, let John David play outside in his little wading pool that Gigi & Grandpa got him. Then we headed off to Kennywood---an amusement park in Pittsburgh. We had a coupon for $10 off each ticket and the "Night Passes" (after 5pm) are only $20 to start with. Luckily, the boys are still free, so only $20 for all of us! That's about as cheap as it gets! They have a section of the park called Kiddieland that had little rides all John David's size---helicopters, motorcycles, airplanes, cars, etc. He loved it. I think the motorcycles are probably his favorite. Before we knew it, it was dark and Kiddieland closed at 9:30 so we headed home. It was perfect timing---by the time we got all the way out to the car, the 4th of July fireworks show started and we could see it from the parking lot. John David sat on the trunk of the car and watched it while he ate cotton candy. We thought he'd pass out asleep on the car ride home, but no such luck. When we got home, our neighbors busted out the kiddie fireworks they had bought earlier in the day and we got out our sparklers to share. The kids had fun popping those pop things. I can't remember what they are called but you throw them on the ground and they pop. John David LOVED those but for some strange reason was terrified of the sparklers. He said, "That hot. That HOT. That burn you." Well, I'm at least thankful my son knows when some sense of caution is appropriate! Eventually he got brave enough to hold one of the sparklers, which we got on video. Also we have video of the popper thing-a-ma-bobs.

Today we slept late AGAIN but got up in time for a backyard cookout with the neighbors and some friends. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, potato salad, root beer floats, cake, pine apple, watermelon, all kinds of YUM. It was hot. Okay, okay, I know---it's a lot hotter in Texas right now but I've been spoiled to much more mild temperatures after living in Colorado and Pennsylvania for the last seven years. But 90 degrees is still hot! The kids ran around the backyard and splashed in the kiddie wading pools and had lots of fun while the adults sat in the shade and had adult conversation----wow! It doesn't take much to excite me. What a great weekend though. We are so blessed.