Fourth of July Weekend.

We've tried our best to pack in it before Deak's big surgery next week. We've swam like crazy, gone to Lagoon a few times, played with lots of friends and gotten a little sunburned.

Perfect Summer Stuff.

The Fourth of July Weekend was no exception.  We were lucky enough to have family and friend in town from Colorado and Texas, and had a great time visiting with all of them.  

This cute little thing, Emmy, was blessed this weekend by her father, Daniel, Blair's cousin.  

Abby was in absolute Heaven.

We then traveled up to Solitude to meet our friends and realized that we have done a terrible job taking advantage of the beautiful state we live in.  Sometimes I just assume we can't do the mountain stuff (hiking is not fun carrying a 40 lb child), but that is my err.  There are lots of opportunities and I need to learn to be more creative when it comes to accessibility. 

 

We had such a wonderful time spending time together, chatting in person rather than through facebook, and throwing in a few jabs at the BYU fan base (which happened to be everyone that was there, other than us:).

We went to a couple parades, preferring the smaller, less marketable West Bountiful parade over the insanity that has become Kaysville's.  Deak wasn't so into the 25 firetrucks in a row blasting their sirens, and decided to sit on the blanket and zone out with the beloved Ipad. Abby, having stayed up until midnight or so a few times during the weekend, was not in prime form either.

Red Robin and Cars 2 became the cure.

We have not really ever taken Deak to a movie.  We tried when he was about 2 on Christmas, and it could best be described as HELL.  So, we haven't dared subject ourselves to the torture again...until now.  

I had my heart set on this experience.  We don't often get to enjoy "typical" family activities together the same way everyday families do, and sometimes I try a little too hard to force it rather than accept it for what it is. 

Blair was skeptical, but coerced into conversion after hearing me plan and discuss this activity for days; to put it mildly, we didn't have high expectations for Deak's attention span or tolerance for the noise/crowd or ability to sit in a seat without squirming to get out every 15 seconds. 

Maybe it was the less than ideal expectations, maybe it was the air conditioning and gargantuan diet coke, whatever the reason...we had a fantastic time.

Was Deak perfect?

No.

Is any preschooler perfect?

No.

He needed to roam around in the middle, when the movie got a little slow.  He often could be found engaging in a (LOUD) conversation with the characters in the movie, "YaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYa...Hehehehehehehe."

But, he really liked it.

And we survived.

And it was enjoyable.

Something so normal and routine for millions of families is kind of like a miracle for us. 

Aren't we lucky?