Happy 4th of July 2009

So, how was the 4th for everyone? Hopefully it was filled with family, and fun, and friends, and fireworks.

I slept in until about 8am (not to shabby, with 5 kids), then got up to crowd control. I let Captain America sleep in, since it would be his only day to sleep in for a while. He got up at around 9:30am, and went exercising. I was farting around with the computer (I don't even remember what I was doing - LOL). I decided, that since he needed to study, the kids and I would go to the pool. Great distraction.

I called Katy, and she wanted to come too. It's not fun at the pool without another mom to chat with. That's the WHOLE reason I go. Well, to let the kids play. Kinda - hehehe. Anyway, when Captain America got back from his run, I "token" invited him to come too. He's not a big water fan. Part of the reason is because of the level of his whiteness. Seriously. He burns SO easily. But, being the loving wife, I invited him too.

And lo and behold, he wanted to come! Crazy, eh? We were a little late getting there (but it was ok, because Katy was still later than us - hehehe) because I had to shave his back. Nasty. He's not like a rug or anything, just a bunch of random hairs. The things we do to keep our men happy - LOL! So, once he was hairless on his back, we headed off.

He had fun swimming around with the little kids, and the big kids. Here he is with Joe and Eme, "power" swimming. They liked going SUPER fast - hehehe. I bet he's the only person you know who swims with a hat. Remember - SUPER white guy :)

And here are the guys getting ready to CANNON BALL!!!

And here they are actually doing it!

Check out the height on that jump! Way to go, sweetheart!!!

And what did I do, you ask? Katy and I sat in the kiddie section and chit chatted. LOVE it! I'm SO loving having friends! Seriously, you should all move to El Paso so you can come and hang out with us, because we're just SO much fun. Well, that's what I tell myself, anyway :)

Captain America stayed for about 30 minutes, then headed home. The rest of us stayed until around 2pm, then headed home. Jim and Joe were getting cold, and hungry. They didn't eat much of their peanut butter sandwich on the way over, and were STARVING! How Jimmy could be starving is beyond me. Joe, yeah, I can see that. Jim? Not so much.

Anyway, since the kids had done ALL their chores in order to get pool time, they were free to relax when they got home. Jim, Joe, and Eme watched a movie, and Jake and Tom got computer time. Captain America was studying for his test/writing his OP order/working on his slide show, and I found a GREAT new show on NBC to watch, called "the Listener".

It'd seen it promo-ed on TV before all my channels stopped working, but never got a chance to see it. I went to NBC.com and was able to get the first 2 episodes streaming. I really liked it. Kinda like the paramedic version of Edward Cullen (Twilight), but without the vampire bit. He can read minds. Hear peoples thoughts. Kinda a cool premise. He helps people with his "talent".

We were supposed to leave the house at 5:30pm to get to the Stake BBQ at 6pm, but we ended up leaving closer to 5:55pm. Oh well. No biggie. Captain America and I cooked dinner before hand for oursleves (back on the diet, baby! oh wait - I didn't get off, because Friday night never happened, right???), but not for the kids, because they were having hamburgers/hot dogs at the BBQ.

It was a madhouse when we got there. Captain America went to set up the chairs in the baseball field, and I took the kids to wait in the food line. Dang, I SO wanted a hamburger. Boy did they look tasty. And the potato salad/macaroni salad looked super good too. See what happens when you eat something you shouldn't. It messes with your head the next day. I'd been resisting MUCH tastier things for the last 2 weeks, and all of a sudden, my appetitie is running rampant on me. But, I'm proud to say, I resisted. I just drank water, and chewed my gum. My stomach was full from the dinner I'd eaten before we came, so it was just all mental.

Anyway, we got the kids burgers/dog, potato salad (for the big kids, anyway), cherries, peaches, and watermelon. Plus lemonade. They LOVEd it. They kept going back all night for the watermelon - hehehe.

At one point, Eme wanted to put on extra bug repelent. See, it's not usually too misquito-y in El Paso, but with all the rain we've been having, there were quite a few of them around. We'd sprayed ourselves down pretty good at home, and even sprayed our jackets with it inside a trash bag. Then sealed the trash bag, to let the bug spray soak in. Anyway, Eme grabs the bug spray, and tries to reapply it on herself. Do you see where I'm going with this? She got herself directly in the eye. Poor thing. We flushed it with water, and wiped it best we could. She was ok, but a bit red and puffy for the rest of the night. Look how BROWN the child has become! Dang, girl! Imagine if I wasn't putting sunblock on her. (Oh yeah, and the baby is Jensen - he's Jenica's baby - friend from church - also from Oregon)

Here's Jake. He got to wear his contacts for 6 hours today. He had just got back from the bathroom after taking them out.

Here's Jenica and Jensen. She's my "whiter than me" friend. hehehe. But then, so's Katy - LOL! I'm usually not the tan one of the group - Ha!

And here's me! ( I had to CRANK the exposure on the camera to get it to turn out - it being dusk/night and all)

And Captain America and I - Arent's we cute!

And what's the 4th of July without the fireworks. The kids LOVED it! Jimmy especially. He had wandered off when it first started, but after about 10 minutes, Tom found him and brought him back. He's found some new "friends" to watch the fireworks with - hehehe.

Right next to the church was a golf course. And that's where they were letting off the fireworks. I'd never been that close to them before. It was AMAZING!!! But then, I just LOVE fireworks :) All in all, it was a fabulous 4th of July!