4th of July

Our tradition of going to S/A's house for the 4th and watching the Rolesville fireworks this year wasn't happening.  Not entirely because we wouldn't be there, but also, Rolesville cancelled their fireworks show.  In an effort to not lose the holiday, one of our last small group dinners at the Daniel house, Sara decorated for the fourth and Andrew grilled out.  It was a great time (except the beginning when Landon had a nose bleed).  I was grateful that S put that effort in for our family so we could experience one last tradition before leaving.  It was very sweet of her and her family.

But the weekend of July 4th we spent in College Station with B's siblings.  Marcus and Mandy and their 3 kids have a house with a pool so that's where the party was.  The Marsh family arrived before us on Thursday night.  All the cousins were together for the first time since we'd moved to TX.  I was excited and a little nervous too.  The Marsh cousins and M. Hantla cousins have a very strong bond.  The boys Ethan and Micah are great friends and love to hang out with each other.  They are closer in age and closer in physical ability than our boys.  I worried about A/W getting left out and I worried about A crying.  The girls I didn't worry about as much because Avery is great about playing with E and R just tags along with Kinsey & Lauren.  Sometimes R even had more fun playing with Ethan and Micah.  All in all the cousins did great.  Friday we ate waffles that Marcus cooked for us and just relaxed at the house.  The kids went swimming and the adults just talked.  I made crack dip that everyone liked and we had a great day.  Friday night we went to the George Bush Library for the fireworks show.  M & M do this every year and it might become our new tradition too???  The library itself was nice but of course our kids didn't really engage in it very much.  It was cool inside though.  The fireworks were pretty amazing and our 4 did great with them.  Even E.  Aunt Mo held E and covered her ears.  The show lasted about 20 minutes but took us what seemed like forever to get home.  There was so much traffic.  It happens though and the important thing was that we have independence from Great Britain. 

Friday morning

Our own fireworks at Uncle Marcus' office

swimming!

picnic dinner before the firework show

cousins from 11-1

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out in College Station until Sunday when B's parents come down.  The brought with them a piece of furniture for our new house and to see our new house.  Good times!