4th of July

OK, so for some reason, the 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday. I think it has something to do with being in the middle of summer, watermelon, corn on the cob, bbq, patriotism, family and friends, lemonade, berries, and fireworks. Technically, this wasn't Jadon's first 4th of July, but it was his first one with us, and I'm pretty sure the first time he'd see fireworks. So I wanted to make sure this was a day full of special tradition starting. Unfortunately, Oceanside cancelled its fireworks, due to budget constraints, and we already went to the fair once (and Jim didn't want to go again). Then we were invited to 2 different housewarming parties. So there weren't many opportunities for actually starting many family traditions. Oh well, we can try again next year. We still had a good time.

Actually, we did start the day with one of my family traditions: waffles with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. Yum! This was Jadon's first experience with such a breakfast, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first.

But he figured it out quickly enough...and in no time had devoured it!

What's a 4th of July party without some patriotic desserts? I had as much fun making as eating these berry/poundcake parfaits and cream cheese sugar cookies. Yum!

My cute little patriotic boy!

At the first party, Jadon shows off his new water skills, challenging Orin and Justin to a game of chicken. :)

County Fair

Oops, in my haste to record noteworthy events of this summer, I skipped too far forward and totally forgot about Jadon's first trip to the Del Mar Fair in June! We bought a 4-pack of tickets at Costco, excited to double date with some friends or go with my parents. But when everyone's plans kept leaving us stranded, we called some kids from our youth group who have a "less active" social life, and ended up having a blast! They loved on Jadon, and it kind of felt like having a family of 5. So here are some picture highlights:

The "family photo" :) (Sorry, Jadon!)

Jadon gets his own photo. Notice his cool kicks. Those were mine when I was a kiddo. Thanks mom for saving/finding them!

Jadon loves animals, and was pretty enthralled by the goats. For the first time, Jim had a little interest in walking through the animal area. Kids are so cool!

And of course we let Jadon experience his first Turkey Stampede and Pig Races. Too bad we got to both too late to get a good seat, so Jadon wasn't too interested...

I got to take Jadon on his first ever "ride"...the "Monkey Maze". It seemed appropriate. The first half was a mirror maze, which used to be my favorite thing when I was a kid. Jadon was his usual low key self...

He didn't even seem too fazed by the big slide at the end! (I'll admit, it was a little "scary" going down it with a kid in your arms!)

Jim used the other tickets that came with the Costco pack to go on the "big kid" rides with our students. Too bad I had to take care of Jadon. ;) (He's a great excuse!!!)

At the end of the day, we got to see our friends from church (LaFaithe) perform on a small stage. Jadon had fun dancing to the music and dumping ice on his dad. :)

Fun day! I always loved going to the county fair with my family each summer, so I hope this is a tradition we continue. (And hopefully our friends and family won't always ditch us!) ;)

Drive-Ins!

One of my favorite family traditions growing up was going to the nearest drive-in theater. In spite of most of these nostalgic theaters closing up and turning into swap meets these days, Jim and I have found one about an hour away in Imperial Beach, the last town in California before you cross the border into Mexico. We've had a ton of fun packing up the Jeep with pillows and blankets and snacks and enjoying our own private double feature, complete with surround sound. Sometimes we'll spend the night at onr of our bargain hotels and hang out at the beach the next day. Great times. And we can't wait to continue this tradition with our kids.

Soooo...last night we tried it with Jadon.

Let's just say we probably won't be doing that again soon.

We hadn't unzipped the Jeep from winter yet, and the zipper got stuck to open up the back. And with Jadon's carseat, we had to keep the back seat in until we got there, then unload, then reload, and we were all squished. And Jadon chose last night to be one of his rare fussy nights, so one of us had to stand outside and bounce him almost the entire first feature. So I didn't get a single photo of Jadon's first time at the drive-ins. Sad. Oh! and the theater changed their rules so that you can no longer skip from one screen to another one in between movies, so you're stuck with whatever pairing they chose...which usually isn't what we want. Hmph!

So until we get a bigger car, and Jadon gets a wee bit older, we're probably going to put this tradition on hold. Hopefully they won't close down by then!