Happy 4th of July!

It's been a busy couple of days. Before I get into it I have to share some background info.

May 2007

Kenny, Nate, and I were vacationing at Disney World. We waited in a long line to ride Dumbo. The fireworks started just as we got onto the ride. Unfortunately the fireworks are launched just behind the Dumbo ride. They were very loud and scared (and scarred) Nate. He spent the rest of the trip with his fingers in his ears and he hasn't watched fireworks since.

Friday

We got up and nothing went as planned. It was noon before we left the house to come to Grandma's. We made amazing time and got here a little before four.

That includes a fairly long stop at the new Buc-ee's gas station in Madisonville. That place is amazing. I've never seen that many different types of jerky! Nate really wants a Texas shaped waffle maker that they sell there (in the gas station). Kenny is addicted to the peanut brittle.

We went to dinner with Grandma, Mom, and Jake at IHOP. Poor Jake. Nate climbed all over him and his broken leg.

Saturday

Nate crawled into bed with us around 6:30. That was actually pretty good because he wanted to go to the parade in The Woodlands. I thought we were going to be late, but we found a spot towards the end of the parade and didn't miss anything at the beginning. Unfortunately we weren't very close to the front and it was hard to see. It got hot fast and we had a family reunion to get to so we didn't make it to the end.

I think the best part of the parade was the Tea Party folks. Mom had a friend in the group and told us that they had a sign contest for the parade. Some of the signs were hilarious.

"Mr. Obama, Please bail me out. They're expecting me to work and stuff!"

"I'll keep my money, you keep the change."

There were many more, but I can't remember them. I wish I could!

We had a good visit with family members we usually only see once a year at the family reunion. Gray got passed around and doodled over the whole time. I felt a little bad for Nate. There were no other kids there, so he was stuck playing by himself and there just isn't much to play with at Uncle Richards. It was so hot he couldn't even run around outside.

Mom's cousin Nancy and her husband Bob did take us on an "almost hayride" or a "hay-less hayride." Really, we rode around in a trailer pulled by a four wheeler. We saw some of Uncle Richard's cows. Nate and Gray had a good time.

On our way back to Grandma's we dropped Mom's car off at a parking lot to hold spot for us to park for the fireworks. Ah, the best laid plans. By the time we got back to the parking lot we couldn't get to Mom's car. Someone was parked in the middle of the driveway part of the parking lot, so we followed suit. I was quite concerned that we couldn't get out if Nate started freaking out about the fireworks and also that it would take forever to get out when the show was over.

The fireworks started later than we expected. We were a little close. The fireworks were very loud and we had to look way up at them. We were very concerned because Nate had his fingers in his ears and was hiding in the floorboard of the car. All in all, the fireworks were awesome. They must have shot a thousand off in the last minute. Nate stayed in the car with his fingers in his ears, but he watched them! It was the first time since the Disney World trip that he's watched them. His fingers began to relax and fall out of his ears towards the end. He was very proud of himself, as were we, at the end of the show.

Even though the parking lot was packed and people were parked in places they (we) shouldn't have been, exiting went very smoothly. We managed to get out of the parking lot and onto the interstate in less than 15 minutes. We didn't think we'd make it home by midnight, but it was more like 10:15.

Tomorrow we're heading to Grandview and dropping Nate off for the week. We're planning to get Gray's room cleaned up while Nate is gone. It looks like a children's clothing store exploded in there.

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July and thank God for his gift of independence and freedom.