4th of July Part 2

Gaby & Seth

Greg & Bennie                                 Kira, Mom & Bennie, Mori

I've had issues getting the pictures to work for this post.  I'm giving up.  We had a very fun, full 4th of July.  We started the morning with a breakfast at our house.  We invited our entire neighborhood, and ward.  We had a good turn out, and it was a lot of fun. We provided pancakes and hash browns,  Everyone else brought breakfast meats or drinks.  After cleaning up from breakfast,  we took tables & chairs back to the church, and picked Seth up from Owen's house. 
Greg decided a fun family activity would be to go to the shooting range, and ride the 4 wheeler.  That might be good family fun for some, but really he's brave to take his paranoid, anxious, uptight, distraught wife and children to a shooting range.  It was painful (FOR ME).  I fought Ben the entire time, he wrestled wanting to get down.  Several times I could see the images in my mind of gunshot wounds I operated on throughout the years.  Kira and Seth were so bored.  Seth finally went and sat in the hot Suburban, and Kira sat on the 4 wheeler.  Finally I said, "I'm done!!!"  Otherwise I fear we'd STILL be there.  Gaby shot Greg's hunting rifle hitting the target squarely EVERY times.  Greg declared, "You're a DEAD EYE!  If you can shoot an Elk like that we'll be just fine!"  She came to me shrugging, "What's a dead eye?  Is that a good thing?"  Greg, Mori, and Seth shot as well.  After my declaration no one seemed to take me serious.  Alas, we finally packed up, and headed down the road to a recreation area to ride the 4 wheeler.  The kids took turns.  Ben thought it should be his turn EVERY SINGLE time.  He'd scream, cry, and carry on every time the 4 wheeler took off without him, and fuss until we couldn't hear the buzz of the 4 wheeler in the distance.  On his second turn, Greg and Ben had been gone for a lengthy amount of time. The other kids and I had gone down to the river for awhile. Soon there were sirens in the distance, and every paramedic, ambulance, fire truck etc in the county showed up.  I could see all of the flashing light in the distance.  I tried not to be nervous, REALLY I tried.  BUT by the time they finally came back my nerves were shot.  When they pulled up Greg was ready to leave too!  HALLELUJAH!  Next time we plan a fun family activity I'll do the planning, and it won't entail guns or 4 wheelers (that's a perfect daddy date activity)!  I probably need to be medicated, or have my memory  wiped clean of every little accident I had a hand in repairing over my almost 15 years in the Operating Room.  My kids don't have a chance at having fun.  I have lectures, detailed graphic accounts of others who tried, and failed miserably.  I hope they have good insurance when they are older...NOT OBAMACARE, But something that pays for out of this world counseling.  THEY ARE GONG TO NEED IT!

 

After we arrived home from our fun family activity we had about 45 minutes until we needed to be at a BBQ Block party, I laid Ben down for a nap, and everyone relaxed for a few minutes.  Kira had been feeling lousy for several days, and REALLY wanted to feel good for the 4th.  Poor girl, she tried so hard to feel good, but just didn't.  We headed over to the BBQ, and had a great time there.  There was yummy food, fun patriotic dishes, good company, fun activities, and more.  I left Ben with Greg while I got my plate.   When I came back Greg was gone, and Ben was eating a WHOLE HOT DOG, BUN and all.  What a MAJOR accomplishment.  I couldn't believe it!  No choking, no gagging, no pocketing food.  He was a mess when he was done, but he did awesome.  Sheri had made cute little s'mores bowls for each of the kids.  There is a little girl in our ward that LOVES BEN.  Liberty (appropriately named for the 4th of July) toted him around at the breakfast, and then again at the BBQ.  The kids found snakes, climbed trees, played hide-n-seek, and had a grand time.  We helped clean up and headed home.

We rested again for about 45 minutes, and then headed to the firework show.  I knew Kira wouldn't be able to stand at the top of our hill to watch.  So I told Greg we need to go where we could sit down.  We had front row seats.  It was so fun.  The show was the most spectacular I've ever seen.  Several times I told the kids "This is the finale!!!"  Every time I was wrong.  Finally, I decided to let the finale announce itself.  The show went for a solid 20 minutes, with no interruptions, then the grandest finale mesmerized us.  I felt like a little kid, even squealing out loud and was totally mesmerized!  I loved watching the kids!  Bennie would clap, clap, clap his hands, and make sounds of pure delight.  One time he stood, walked to Greg, tapped, and pointed to the sky and in perfect BENease said something...I'm sure it was profound.  I bet that is the grandest thing his little eyes have ever seen.  Seth was so cute.  He proclaimed, "This is the most AWESOMEST day EVER!"  He makes me smile... a lot!  Gaby told Mori she should would be good at Pyrotechnics...at least she sees the potential in her sister!  Gaby thought it was the best firework show she'd ever seen, BUT not the best she'd ever read about...she has a good imagination I guess.  It was a good, busy day.  We enjoyed spending time as a family, even if  mother is a little crazy.
We rejoice in living in this great nation.  We are thankful to our God for preparing this nation, and preserving  our freedoms.  We do see the signs of the times, but we also acknowledge God's hands in our lives, and in this great country.  We pray our family will be strong and courageous and intact at the coming of our LORD.