A 4th Full of Friends

What started out as a weekend with no plans quickly turned into a jam packed weekend full of food, fun, family, friends and fireworks. Did I leave off any 'f's'? 

Oh yeah....fashion faux pas. That's what I was concerned about while out working on the morning of July 4th. Riley was in charge of getting Hallie's day started which meant clothing selection of course. Like a dummy I forgot to pick out one of her four 4th of July outfits that she'd somehow collected. Hubby managed to pick out a dress from last year that hardly fit so he added her new starry skirt underneath. This is the picture I got. Face. Palm.

After hearing from a few friends that he had actually tucked the dress into the skirt to make it appear that it was a top and skirt I was relieved and reminded just how much he likes to torture me so. ;) The two of them spent the morning at the park checking out all the goings on while I worked that morning and saw a few patients. They ran into quite a few friends and family while milling around the busy park. She spotted her bff cousin Carmen. Check out these cuties....

I've decided this year is my last to work on the holiday....it put a damper on last year and this year as well. Mostly a damper on my attitude. I made it home by 1:00 and we kicked off the afternoon with a trip to the waterpark. Hal had just the perfect outfit picked out for the occasion.....

After a little talk about the fact that those black boots were meant for cooler temps we traded them out for some water shoes and we were on our way to some water fun. Sis was already feeling sleepy as we made our way up to the waterpark....

A popsicle quickly pepped her up though....

But it wasn't long before she was cold, tired and ready to go home for a nap....

Oh wait. One more stop. Ice cream.....

"Oran ice ceam on cone" per request

After a nap for Hal, gym for Riley and a Walmart run for me we spent the rest of a very low-key evening just grilling out steaks and vegging out....

Oh, and coloring Hello Kitty pages with daddy....

Later that night Hal got dolled up to go see some fireworks. We kept away from the crowd that night and watched from a parking lot far away with Nanny and Papa. For the second year in a row Hal was less than impressed by the colorful display....

"You won't see me ooooing and ahhhhing"

The next day we finally got in some much needed waterpark time with our girls, Katie and Carmen.....

These crazy chicks spent most of the time running in opposite directions but it didn't keep us from having fun....

Stylin' in her sunnies

Friday night we spent some fantastic time at Matt and Heather's house where we covered most of the F's....fun, food, friends, Friday....and one big W....WATERMELON....

Slice #1

Slice #2

Slice #3

Slice #4

The array of food was delicious and the company was even better. "Uncle Matt" graciously hopped in the pool so that Hal could take a dip. Riley conveniently "forgot" his swim trunks. :0 Matt also helped Hal and Sam get their golf swing on. Brave job but somebody's gotta do it....

Jai and I caught a matinee on Saturday afternoon. I left with sore cheeks from laughing so hard. A good movie is just good for the soul if you ask me. Our sweet friends, Brian and Alexa, invited us over for a cookout that evening and we were more than happy to join them for a perfect evening. Hallie and Vivi played on the floor and looked oh so adorable in doing so.....

Hal got a little too lovey dovey and forgot that Miss V is a beginner at the sitting business. Poor Vivi ended up bonking her head after a tumble backwards....

Hug or strangle? We will keep working on this ;)

But it was all good after a few blueberry puffs and Hal's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. All was well. We had a wonderful relaxing time with these new sweet friends that evening.

Sunday morning Hal and I were a couple of heathens who drove to Enid instead of going to church. But ya see, we had a very important reason for traveling east....we were on our way for the opening of Champion Park. My inspiring and oh so talented friend, Whitney, has been slaving away on this park and we were so excited to share in some of the excitement as she honored her brother that morning. We sang, laughed and danced (well, she danced, I drove) the whole way there. Oh and she ate....a LOT.

But you say "what's new? She's always eating." To that I say "but it usually stays in her belly." This particular morning she just wasn't feeling fab once we turned off the main highway to make the short one mile drive to the park. Sometime within that mile she started feeling yucky and by the time we made the turn to pull into the parking lot she let out a big wail following by an "I'm going to frow up mommy!" I handed her the only thing within reach which was a tiny 4x4 plate that I brought my breakfast on. It caught nothing. So there we were....watching Whitney get ready to cut the balloons to signify the opening of the park....Hallie covered in vomit and crying....me trying to console her but also wanting desperately to actually watch what we had driven all that way for. I sprinted over to hug Whitney and fill her in on why I was jetting off so quickly and then returned to the car to see how bad the "damage" was. Pretty yuck. So we called our trusty pals Lisa and David and of course they were waiting for us as soon as we pulled in ready to help. Lisa washed down a messy Hal while I worked on the car and washed her dress. It wasn't long before David had her all set with a juice drink as she checked out her special gifts from their trip to Florida. The new shirts came in handy while we waited for her dress to dry. I quickly discovered that she was feeling mighty fine and was eating up all of the attention.....

She dipped her toes in the pool, did a bit of playing up in the treehouse, downed a few Dora fruit snacks and soaked up all the love she could in the hour that we were there. Once everything was cleaned up and dried we decided to try the park thing again. Unfortunately Whitney was at lunch while we went to play and Hallie was getting a bright red face and looked sort of squeamish so we cooled off in the car on the way to lunch. We shared some pizza and made a spontaneous decision to go see Despicable Me 2. Awesome movie. Awesome movie partner. Well, that it until she got her foot stuck in the movie seat. We shamefully exited the theater as soon as I pried her leg loose. Off to Woodward we went to spend the rest of our Sunday relaxing. Here are a few pictures I snapped of Hallie having a blast at the beautiful new Champion Park.....

Oh yeah, and I can't forget the one of her reenacting getting her foot stuck....

About halfway home we made another spontaneous decision to have Nanny, Papa, Luke and Carmen over for a cookout that night. My shopping partner helped me pick up all of the food we needed for dinner...

Riley grilled out some steaks and we watched a couple of naked babies run around the backyard sliding in the sprinkler. By the end of the night we were all fully fatigued from a fun-filled four day weekend full of festivities with friends, fireworks, food. Did I forget any 'f's? ;)