Our Happy 4th

For the 4th of July, we went to a parade in the morning in Galveston. Aiden stood back for the first third of the parade, but then finally accepted that he should run to grab the candy like the kids around us. It was ridiculously hot, so we were happy to get back to Ariel's for lunch. We grabbed Subway on the way over and by that point Aiden was on the brink of a meltdown. Half a sandwich and 30 minutes later he was happy as a clam. Lucky for us, he went down for a nap fairly easily in his travel crib.

That afternoon, we had a few friends over to Ariel and Robert's and grilled some burgers. I brought Aiden's new tee ball set over. He and Elise had a great time practicing their swing. I was proud with how quickly Aiden honed his batting skills.

Elise and Aiden get along so well. It was great to have her there to help entertain Aiden. She's almost two years older than him, but she is slows down to keep Aiden's pace.

Jerry is fresh out of nursing school and he found a job in the ICU at a local hospital. He came by after his shift and showed off his fancy scrubs.

Michelle even came by. I brought leftover cupcakes from Aiden's birthday party to eat after dinner. I offered one to Michelle. She took one bite and goes, "Oh, is there banana in this?" I said yes and then quickly realized Oops! Michelle is allergic to bananas! She spit it out quickly and was fine. Thankfully she doesn't swell up and die from bananas.

We all wore beads from the parade and I brought over the red and blue leis from Aiden's party.

Aiden's bedtime is 8 pm. The fireworks were at 9:15, so that was a bit tricky. He did really well with it though. He didn't actually get cranky until he had to wake up the next morning before he was ready to get up.

We walked a few blocks down the street to Ariel's and plopped down in the sand to watch the fireworks. We were pretty far away, but I think that was a great way for Aiden to experience fireworks for the first time. They weren't all in our faces and booming in our chests. He didn't get scared at all and seemed to enjoy himself actually. As long as he could be by Elise, he was good.