independence.

As my long weekend draws to a close, I feel like I need another day off to recuperate from all of our fun! For the Fourth of July, I decided that Nate was old enough to understand and appreciate fireworks, so I took him to our local fireworks here in town. To prep I pulled up videos of fireworks on YouTube to talk Nate through all of the pretty colors and loud noises. What did we do before technology?! Ha! Poor Chris had to work that night, so I made sure to take lots of photos so that he could see some of Nate's reactions for himself.

After finally finding a parking space and finding a spot to sit, we watched fireworks for approximately seven minutes before Nate started asking to go home. The magic didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would, so it was nice to also be with some friends and my parents who could help keep him interested/distracted. Nate finally decided that tackling my mom was the most fun while she was trying to take pictures of the fireworks. All boy.

While we got to celebrate the independence of our great country, I was also celebrating another kind of independence -- freedom from diapers! Nate is 3 weeks into potty training and doing so well. It's so liberating to take him out without worrying about carrying all of the extra supplies!

While I know it' silly, it makes me sad to be running out of "firsts", so to take Nate to his first fireworks display entailed totally dressing up to match the occasion :) 

Once we finally got home, Nate set off a few fireworks with Chris on our driveway. I'm not sure what kind of firework that he's holding, but i was like a super-sparkler. He loved it!

The next morning, Nathan had the following conversation with his Buzz Lightyear while eating a bowl of cereal:

Nathan: [to his Buzz Lightyear] I saw da fireworks and ate noodles and played outside!
Buzz: [narrated by Nathan] Oh, you not take me. I no have fun.
Nathan: Ummm Mommy....I can have different toy?

Can we say guilt trip much?! That day, I buckled down and did hours of homework while Chris was at work and Nate was at school. I have three weeks left of this class and I am determined to finish strong!

Yesterday, we took a family and friend trip to a local waterpark to spend some time in the sun and enjoy the pool. I worked there for two summers in high school, so it's always interesting to go back. Nathan had a great time and did so well in the water. We definitely need to get him into some swimming lessons, but we worked with him on kicking and how to float a little bit yesterday. With everyone's crazy schedules lately, it was so nice to spend time together yesterday. Very relaxing even though the sun was absolutely brutal!