Fourth of July Weekend Review

We spent the 4th of July just hanging out and relaxing at home. My cousin Matt came to visit with us over the weekend. He and Shane spent most of their day playing video games of course. I had some fabulous decorations thanks to Ryan that he made at school. I put this star on the front door and hung the flag he made on the front porch.

One of Ryan's favorite thing to do is play in the hot tub.

Rob took the kids to buy fireworks in the afternoon. They chose a fairly large pre packaged set as well as several individual ones. Ryan was so excited to light them. When we set up in the front yard for our show Ryan, the little social butterfly that he is spotted our neighbors John and Lori hanging out with their guests lighting fireworks in front of their house. Ryan said, "I'm going to go say Hi to John and Lori," I said OK and that is the last we saw of him. He came back over to get his chair and dragged it back over to their house. He ditched us and had the nerve to say our fireworks were lame (I think this may have been due to the fact that they were setting off four of five at a time as well as shooting off illegal fireworks). It was a much better show than our little one at a time "safe and sane" fireworks.

"These fireworks are lame Mommy."

On Saturday we went to a barbecue at my cousin Christina's house. We were super late because we got trapped on the 57 freeway. We didn't know before we left that there was a car fire that sparked a brush fire. What should have only been a 20 minute ride turned into an hour long crawl through Diamond Bar. It was cool to see all of the fire trucks parked along the highway, helicopter circling and all of the firefighters on the hillside. While it was inconvenient to have three lanes of the freeway closed on a holiday weekend I am glad they were able to contain the fire so quickly. When we finally got to their house Ryan spent most of the time in the pool while the rest of the guys watched the UFC fight.

We spent Sunday at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The weather was soooo much better closer to the beach. The downside to that though is the crowds, that place was (excuse the pun) "filled to the gills". We had to push and shove our way though the exhibits. The last time I was there was early in the morning on a week day. I would definitely think twice about going there again on a weekend. We all had a fun time in spite of the crowds. This picture of a Loorikeet is one of my favorites. Rob had to bribe Ryan with candy to get him into the Loorikeet Forest. Shane waited outside, I think he was scared to go inside with all the birds loose.

Shark Lagoon Rule: Two fingers only on their back.

Ryan was scared to put his hand in but once Rob got him to do it he looked up and said, "Hey, this is so fun".

Ryan and Matt cooling off with a Popsicle.

When I asked Ryan what was his favorite animal he saw he said he liked the scuba divers the best, especially when they waved and said hi to him. Then he said he liked the sharks too.

Shena and Ryan were both passed out by the time we got home.