My America

We are now one week into July and I still cannot believe the weather that we have been having.  The past few days have felt more like April than July (but I'm not complaining).  Today is the first sunny, rain-free day we've had in four days.  So, what am I doing now that the sun is shining???  I put the kids outside with the sprinkler and their Daddy so I could veg out in front of the TV for a bit.  Score.

But one can only veg for so long.  At least this one.  So, I thought I would share some of our shenanigans from the week.  Turns out we had a truly patriotic week celebrating July 4th and participating in some of America's favorite past times.  Here's what we were up to the first week of July:

We took a nice, long walk on the greenway, then headed down to the river with Baba

and practiced skipping stones.  Okay, we just threw the rocks in the water.  Gotta start somewhere, right??

And we found a fabulous, new friend on our little journey.  Chandler named him Charlie and loved him tremendously for the 20 minutes he had with him before Mommy made him return him back to nature.

Wednesday night we went to the boys' first Sounds game with Nana, Baba, & Uncle Woody.

It was a great night for some baseball!

And both of the boys seemed to have a great time!

We skipped the peanuts in lieu of cracker jacks, cotton candy, pizza, hot dogs, and Goobers.

And then ended up with a pretty large and in charge sugar high.

And even in spite of the little bit of rain that started in the 7th inning, we had a great time.

And got the catch the fireworks show after the game, too!

July 4th was all kinds of rainy.  And cold.  We spent most of the afternoon on Nana's back porch eating and wrapped in blankets.  Here are the boys with Uncle Woody.

Due to the rain our neighborhood 5K and July 4th parade was cancelled, but we were still all smiles.

Cause who needs parades and fireworks on July 4th anyway, right??  (Well, it would've been nice, but there's always next year I suppose.)

Friday we took the boys to tour one of the Nashville Fire Stations

They let us check out their "chillin' out" room & their kitchen before taking us to the garage.

Chandler was in awe of all the firemen and had to check out every truck.

And Liam would have stayed all day if we would've let him.

We even got to see two of the trucks (including the ladder truck) head out to calls while we were there.

It was a great visit that reminded us how important the men and women who do these jobs are.  True American heroes.

After our visit we went for lunch at Firehouse Subs.

While we were there Chan spotted two soldiers coming in for lunch.  He was in awe once again and grinned so big when one of them passed by our table and said "Hey there, buddy!" 

And speaking of American heroes...check out this shot that Grandma took of Liam on July 4th.  Best Captain America I've ever seen.

 

So I was a bit bummed that we missed the race and the parade this year (we even had the bike and the stroller totally decked out with some patriotic flair).  But,when all is said and done, we don't need races, parades, floats, or fireworks to celebrate the 4th.  We need to remember that the freedoms that we have in this country were not bought or earned.  They were bravely fought for by the true American heroes of yesterday and are defended still by the American heroes of today and tomorrow.

"I love my freedom.  I love my America."

~Jessi Lane Adams~

Till next time friends!

Brittany :)

P.S.- To check out last year's July 4th post (and see how big our little Liam got in this past year), just click here. :)