Happy 4th (er, 5th) of July!

We had a fun day yesterday! We started by heading to a local park for their 4th of July festivities, which included (but weren't limited to): steam train rides, temporary tattoos and crafts for kids, a quilt show, model train displays, pictures with Uncle Sam, a live band playing, a blacksmith, and people dressed in period clothing reenacting gunfights and firing old cannons. So many fun possibilities! Sadly, the big train scared Nikos, and the firing of the cannon sealed the deal. Maya wasn't bothered by any of it, but Nikos was DONE after the cannon. He really is a pretty sensitive little guy, and he does NOT like loud noises (I think this was also the problem with the train, which he wanted to ride until it blew its whistle). The band playing just made it even worse, too. So our stay was rather short... Here are two pictures I managed to snap-- just look at Nikos' face in the second one! That was when we were watching the cannon...


Then we came home, did naptime, and played in the yard for a bit... So I got my BIG camera out and took some pictures!


After dinner, my parents brought Maya to their house, since we are doing potty-training for the next three days. I wanted to be able to focus all my attention on that, but I'll post about that, later! Still, since it was just us and Nikos, we thought we'd take a big chance and go to see the fireworks. Knowing that he hates loud noises, we were fully prepared to go home. But he was really excited to stay up late, and super excited to go to a FOOTBALL FIELD! So thrilling! :) He freaked out about one minute before the show, though, when Gus mentioned that they would be turning out the lights. He did NOT want it to be dark, and insisted that we go back to the car right away. But he climbed into Gus' lap, and Gus covered his ears, and the kid FELL ASLEEP! He slept through the entire show, which I never would have anticipated in a million years! I mean, we were right where they were launching the fireworks. Car alarms were going off like crazy. And he just snoozed the entire time!


He woke up when it was time to leave, and was quite chatty (he told us his favorite fireworks were the green ones, which made us giggle!). It took us an hour to get home (normally a 5-minute drive, but traffic was nuts!), and he was awake the entire time. He ended up going to bed close to 11pm! And he woke up at 7:15, which means he is currently snuggled up next to me on the couch, acting very drowsy. All in all, I will call it a successful 4th of July! Maybe next year, he'll stay awake! :)