Memories of an unusual 4th of July

Yesterday was really an odd day..... first of all, having the holiday mid-week just didn't seem right.  Brad actually went to work for a bit, while Joshua and I ran around with Nana.  (He's really working hard to get his "phase 2" implemented so that when we get that all important call to leave the country.... we will be ready!!)  First item on our agenda was taking items to Goodwill.  These donations have been on my bedroom floor for WAY too long.  Anyway, for some reason we thought we might want to checkout what's inside....so we ventured in after leaving our donation.  A bit later we came out with a Candy Land game and two stuffed animals for Nana's dog, Riley (Candy Land game is for Joshua, not Riley :)  )  Next item on the agenda was to find a baby gate.... we need several, but we planned to find one we liked using first before buying the 4 we need to section off the house and keep little miss safe from the stairs. After two stops, some bath toys, a bath mat, a new sun hat for Little Miss, we found a baby gate too and ventured home.  Joshua and Nana were soooo goofy playing with the stuffed animals, one was a puppet...which made for lots of car silliness. 

Oh forgot, before we came home, we stopped by to get barbeque at, yes...this is really the restaurant's name, "Butt Rubbin BBQ" - of course you can only imagine the continued silliness as Joshua kept calling Nana's phone pretenting to order BBQ....seriously, who would name a restaurant something like this??  Only in America :)   It is really good though, so we continue to support this local business.

We finally made it home and daddy arrived shortly after for our BBQ dinner -- then we ventured off in the heat to the park.  It was 97 degrees yesterday...just terribly hot.  The BEST part of the day was seeing Joshua finally be willing to have his training wheels removed from his bike.  He's a cautious kid and just hadn't been ready....until today.  I can't say he's a natural, but he really did a great job.  I think his bike might be a little too small for him, but it was great today for him to be able to put his feet on the ground.  We took the path to the park - he went around the path twice.... took off his helmet, with soaking wet hair from the sweat and said, "I think I'm ready to go home"...this is the boy that could spend hours at the park.  I think the excitement of riding that bike along with the heat was enough for him :) 

Spent the evening playing games and doing puzzles....and then off to bed as the city fireworks were going off in the distance.  With the dryness, no local or private fireworks were allowed....and the crowd and heat downtown didn't seem appealing to us... I guess we're getting old.  Anyway.... a perfect ending to a very unusual 4th of July that we will always remember.  Well, almost perfect...the other thought that continued to linger in my mind all day was..."wouldn't it be great, and easy for me to remember...if we were to hear from our agency that Lauren's passport has been received?"... maybe later this week... still hoping and praying. Regardless, I think I will remember no matter what the day is.....