Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy Fourth of July!

It was a happy one. Mostly. It didn't start out great due to a (hopefully) minor back injury for Troy. Certainly not as serious as the injury suffered by our other Troy in Seattle, but I did wake up to a crooked husband. He got up early to do some digging in the basement and as he was working, heard a crunch and felt a pop and that was it for today. Troy hasn't had problems with his back for a long time and I hope this injury heals quickly and doesn't lead to a string of problems like he's had in the past. Whenever he does this to his back he is literally crooked until the inflammation subsides. So I put him to bed and spent a lazy morning with the kids playing around the house, running to the grocery store and cooking.

We were invited to The Becky's house for afternoon swimming, dinner and early fireworks. I'm so grateful for a good friend like The Becky, and that our kids play so happily together. Here is her daughter Rachel showing off her patriotism, not to mention her extreme excitement and impatience for her father to begin lighting the fireworks. Two of my favorite events of the evening were:




1) RAP and Becky's youngest boy James repeatedly climbing up the porch stairs, throwing little golf balls down the stairs to watch them bounce, laughing delightedly, going down the stairs to retrieve them, and beginning all over again.







2) Jake, Becky's middle child, taking off his shirt to hold over the air conditioner vent to catch the air like a balloon. CTP decided he wanted to be part of the fun and so ripped off the first item of clothing he could think of. His swim trunks. We quickly (of course, not before snapping a photo) convinced him to put them back on and use his shirt instead.





I think we timed the day perfectly. A lovely afternoon at Becky's, with Troy joining us for the early fireworks show. Then we came home at nine, just at dusk, when our fabulous neighbors the McGreggors always do their own fireworks out on the street. This has actually become a nice tradition for us - almost every year we seem to return from some event just as they are starting their own fireworks. I'm starting to feel like we should pitch in next year. CTP adores them and their nine-year-old son, and happily sat with them for the show. RAP and I joined them after she had a quick bath. Then just as the McGreggors finished up, the big fireworks up at the UofU stadium began. I took RAP out in the backyard to watch, while Troy took CTP up to our in-progress attic to watch out the window. Three fireworks displays in one night - it couldn't have been better. RAP's reception to the fireworks warmed gradually with each performance. At Becky's it was a lot of "scary!" while for the McGreggors it turned more to "sparkly!" and "loud!" until finally as I held her in my arms in the cool back yard, with the fireworks blooming overhead she kept up a steady stream of commentary: "Beautiful Fireworks! That one boom! More fireworks!" I don't think either child will be ready for a Liberty Park attendance on the 24th, but maybe next year. Of course, then we'd miss Becky's and the McGreggors, which might not be worth it. Happy 4th, everyone.

1 comment:

ghd3 said...

So sorry to hear about T. Preslar's back! Ouch. Troy, I feel your pain. :) I hope it's a speedy recovery.

The attic looks great! Very cool!

Glad you guys had such a nice 4th. We did, as well, I think. KHD was exhausted, but we were able to see some fireworks in the end, which was fun.