4th of July

We drove to Joseph, about 6 hrs away on July 3rd to celebrate the 4th in my home town. It was a great trip. On the way there Addie slept for only about 30 minutes (Elgin to Wallowa!) not long enough, but we got to stop and see my friend Will in Wallowa for his birthday. Once we got to my moms, there were bday gifts for Addie to unwrap, though Lily was way more interested in getting them unwrapped than Addie. I think the favorite was an Addie sized camping chair from my brother Matt. That night after bedtime we were able to go up to the lake and see Jocelyn and her family for a bit, sans the kiddos.

On Saturday Addie woke at 5am and Lawrence got up with her, letting me sleep. YAY! He was doing the Lostine River Run and leaving at 7:30. I got ready and my mom gave Addie/Lily her big bday gift (another post on that) and I picked up our friends 2 kids in Enterprise and headed to Lostine to meet the racers. Lawrence did great, finished 4th place in his age bracket! After a few minutes of browsing the junk, er, flea market and manging to get out with only $1 spent and a used my little pony, we were off to the parade in Wallowa.

The kids looked so cute in their little 4th of July outfits. Everyone who saw Addie running along the sidewalk did a double take at her cuteness, while I overflowed with pride. It was HOT. In Wallowa county you don't see 80 degrees at 9am very often! The girls got more Candy than they did for Halloween I think at the parade. They listened well, and waited patiently in their chairs for candy to be thrown and then they had a line not to cross in the road. Since kids on floats were throwing some of the candy under horse foot, Lawrence went in to the street to throw candy out of harms way between "floats". Addie picked up quickly on scooping up her bucket, stepping off the curb, and gathering candy. Lily helped her and it was a lot of fun to watch. They both filled their buckets to the brim. I hate to admit it, but on the way home, I was starving, and filled up and a bunch of junk that had milk in it which Addie couldn't eat. Lily could hear me behind her opening wrappers and I assured her that I was only going through Addie's bucket. haha. Needless to say I wasn't feeling fantastic by lunch time! :)

Addie and I took a nap when we got home, and Lily didn't (actually my mom and Lawr did too, everyone but Lily, surprise surprise!). We told her she had to in order to stay up until 11 to watch fireworks. Then I had to decide to break my word or not. I decided to let her go (bad mommy going against my word!) because she had her heart SET on going up to the Hays and seeing Jordan and I wasn't sure she'd have another time to see him. She's been planning for it for weeks. I was getting emotional over not having her there, so I got Lawrence a few more beers and convinced him that letting her come was the right move! :) We had a nice BBQ at Mandy & Joe's house before hand, and headed up to the lake after getting Addie down with both white noise machines on full blast. My mom stayed behind with sleeping Addie.

Sunday was biking riding, bfast with Mom, Jocelyn, Peter, & Isabella at the Old Town Cafe (aka best food and slowest service on the planet!). Lawrence and I got ice cream during nap time and walked around Joseph a bit. We played at the lake with the kids and Nelson's after, which was fun. I also cleaned out my closet at home, hoping to make a little more room, since next time we visit, we'll have another little one. I condensed it all into one box and one file folder thingy to bring back. Mandy and I laughed at the pictures, there were boxes and boxes of old ones. I threw away a ton of stuff, which I could tell made my mom VERY nervous. I know there is more stuff stored in her room and the shed for me to go through, but for now my closet is EMPTY, just a few games and a baby bath tub!

Monday we drove home, another good drive, easy with the kids.

A common thought along the way both directions is how the heck are we going to do this with a new baby and Sabine? Though Lawrence suggests it, we are NOT buying a trailer to pull along behind our giant SUV (with roof rack)! We just have to find a way to bring less stuff...

So I'm tempted to post this with no pictures. I know, GASP! But the pics are on the laptop and there are almost 400 of them (MOM!) and Lawrence is sleeping in our room. Separate post to come with a few of the pics and with the unconventional bday present story! Okay, OBVIOUSLY I came back and added a few pics because really, how boring without...and okay, I posted more than a few. But now no need to come back to it...