It was a rainy 4th. We hadn't thought ahead about plans for the weekend. Yet, it turned into a pretty fantastic day.
The Tour de France started a few days ago and the whole family enjoyed watching some of it together this morning. Then we met Sophia, Evan, Christine, & Kurt for the 11:10 showing of Finding Dory. In the afternoon we had some family game time. (Jack is pushing through the negative feelings of losing. He asks to play with just Mom or Dad, he sticks to the rules, and he doesn't give up on the game when he's down. I'm so proud of him! For the record: he beat me in Candy Land, two games to one. :) And, I'm so thankful that Mike does such an amazing job talking both kids through the ups and downs of competition.) We spent the evening at Owen & Holden's house, sharing a cookout dinner with tons of great neighbors, and enjoying lots of adult talk, kid play, and fireworks (Thanks Dino!). We warned the kids that they'd be up late. 9pm (This summer we're hitting new records for how late the kids are up!) We talked in advance about how to handle being tired. Again, I was so proud when they checked in throughout the evening, left politely, and didn't have any whining or fussing as we headed straight to bed. I love being able to end the day telling the kids things like I did tonight:
To Malynn: "I'm so proud of you for handling yourself like such a big girl."
To Jack: "It makes me so happy when our family has so much fun with each other and our friends."
Happy 4th of July everyone!
