Bryce's first Fourth of July

~There are a lot of words at the beginning but I promise there are some pictures!~

Fourth of July is probably my 2nd favorite holiday, second only to Christmas. When I was young every Fourth of July we would start the day by swimming at my Great-Aunt Sarah Ann and Great-Uncle Hot Shot's peanut-shaped swimming pool.

We would spend all day swimming. The adults would play volleyball sometime in the afternooon. Then when it cooled off in the evening we would have a huge meal and homemade ice cream.  When nightfall came we would shoot off fireworks with a few engaging in roman candle fights in the corn fields. It's a wonder the corn fields never caught fire!

This was a HUGE extended family gathering which included my Grandma, Aunts and Uncles, cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles, second and third cousins. Unfortunately this annual gathering ended many years ago for whatever reasons. This year it was front and center on my mind as earlier this year Sarah Ann passed away. Therefore it could never quite be the same.

As the years have gone on Nic and I have kind of gotten our own Fourth of July routine, which includes going to the lake and watching fireworks from the boat. For the past couple years this routine has stayed in place as the Fourth of July has been falling over a weekend, however in a couple years it may not stay as the Fourth of July rotates around to being in the middle of the week.

I had Friday off so I could make it a 4 day weekend for me. On Friday I took Bryce to my Mom's, a little a later than usual...no need to rush around. I was able to get a much needed pedicure and even a manicure using a gift certificate I recieved from Nic and Bryce for Mother's Day. Then went to Walmart to get groceries for the weekend before I went back to pick Bryce up. I regretted waiting til Friday to do this as that place was insane!

So Bryce and I arrived at the lake around 2pm.  Fortunately he was sleeping so I kept the car running and left Bryce in the air conditioning until I got the air conditioner running in the RV and unloaded everything. Nic arrived a short time later and we headed out on the boat to for a couple of hours.

Saturday we woke up to rainy weather...thank you Hurricane Alex! We visited with Nic's Uncle Oman and Aunt Dubie and had lunch with them. Then brought Bryce back to our RV for a short nap. Later that afternoon Nic's Aunt and Uncle offered to keep Bryce while we went out fishing. We took them up on their offer. We donned yellow rain jackets and headed out fishing with our friends Bryan and Frankie. We (except Nic, ha ha) caught several small sand bass, but nothing big enough to keep.

That evening after much debate we decided to take Bryce up to watch some firework.  Bryce did really well. He was not startled at all by the sounds and was a little mesmerized by the visuals.

During the show we saw a couple ambulances heading east then one running lights and sirens back west. The following day we were sad to find out that a 7 year old boy drowned near Sequoyah State Park. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I cannot even imagine what they are going through. Since having a child of my own things like this have began to affect me much more than before.

Here's my little man and I waiting for the show to start.

Sunday the Fourth, Nic had to head back into town to help with MDA Fill the Boot. Bryce and I quickly ran back as well to meet little Miss Taylor Marie who was born the prior afternoon to proud parents Joey and Trisha. Congratulations you two! She's beautiful!

Melissa, Ozzie, Kell, Amanda and Robi came up after I made it back. Actually Melissa and her crew beat me. Since Nic was gone for the time being Robi was our boat driver until Nic returned. Fortunately the weather was mostly sunny, but very windy. We started to go to the 'island' but it was way to windy, so we cruised around a bit until we found a spot out of the wind where Kell could swim.

Kell begging to swim a few more minutes longer.

Robi & Ozzie

When Nic made it back,we headed back to the marina to get him then we met up with our fellow pontoon friends at a beach that was blocked from the wind. Some were tubing and some were skiing. Nic decided to put on some skis and show us his skills. He's such a great skiier!

Melissa and Amanda while we were sunning on the back of the boat.

Ozzie, Kell and Melissa. Gotta love Kell's hat!

On our way back to the marina, a boat drove in front of us, which was a little rude but that's besides the point. This boat combined with the wind created a wave that went over the front of our boat and busted the front gate open. So we had our passengers stand on the front to get the excess water to drain back off the front instead of pool up at the back. I thought it made for the perfect photo opportunity!

We returned to our RV where we grilled chicken, shrimp and corn and baked some cheesy potatoes. Around 8:30pm we headed back out on the boat to watch the fireworks over the water.

Here's Bryce and I in our Fourth of July attire before we headed out on the boat to watch fireworks. Not a great picture of me, but when it comes to the weekends I don't wear make up and my hair is in a pony tail.

We tied up with Frankie and her crew in a spot a little southeast of Whitehorn Cove and were able to see at least a half of a dozen shows. It's was pretty good.

Here's one shot I was able to get of the fireworks. I'd like to have gotten more, but Bryce was in his "I only want Mommy" mood and I didn't feel like wrestling a baby and a camera.

Overall the weekend was great, despite one day of rain and the wind, the weather was good. Bryce got to stay up past his bedtime two nights in a row, so now we have to get him back in his routine. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how late that child goes to sleep he's still up by 6am, so it's very important to maintain an early bedtime for him.

This evening we start our Diaper Dolphin swim class at Miller Swim School. Hopefully we will get some cute pictures that I can post later in the week along with some cute photos I had taken last week.