4th of July

I have too many pics of Alex, but I couldn't resist this one... TOO CUTE!

Shabree's swim test... she passed.

The girls took pictures of the ducks. They saw some ducklings but couldn't get a good pic.

As it was getting dark, I took pictures of the girls, who were sitting on our "blanket"

We had a really good 4th. Obviously, we went swimming first. Jerry ended up having to do something for work (which ended up NOT needing to be done just then, darn it!) so we arrived an hour after they opened. We took sandwich makings and crackers and sodas. We ate around 2, and then I went into the "big" pool for probably something close to an hour, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Then I took Sammi and Alex into the pool where it's zero depth entry, so that Alex could crawl around and Sammi could run in and out as she likes to do. Sometimes it's hard to keep an eye on that girl. When I was in the big pool, she would come dangle her feet in the pool, then all of a sudden, get up and go to her daddy who was sitting by the snack shack. Shabree passed her swim test the first time around, but is definitely not as confident in the water as she used to be. She was MUCH better in years past. After we went swimming, we went and picked up more sandwich stuff, and headed for Elk Grove regional park. Jerry dropped us off then went and parked in a nearby neighborhood to save on parking (which was 10 dollars, and it was nice to be able to keep it.) We got a GREAT view of the fireworks, this time I made the sandwiches before we left so we didn't have to make our own. They were really good. We also took some fruit and more crackers. Jerry was feeding Alex and I cherries (without the pits to Alex) We also got to enjoy one band, a Christian jazz rock kind of sound. Little odd, but ok. As I said, we had a great view of the fireworks, and the show was really good, quite enjoyable, much more so than last year. We were by the lake, so the girls got to see the ducks, and there were ducklings as well. And this year, we sent the girls to the bathroom WELL in advance of the fireworks so they wouldn't be saying "I have to go to the bathroom NOW" when they started (which has happened to us in the past! Esp at Disneyland!) We all got a LITTLE too much sun, just pink mostly, even Alex's shoulders were pink. I could feel it on my back when I put my backpack on. We're going to go swimming again next Saturday for Shabree's birthday, and will hopefully make it by 12 this time, and not miss any of the fun. I'll have to get sandwich makings again. That was nice, having lunch there. The last time we'd gone swimming, we only had trail mix, and it was okay, but we were kinda hungry when we got home.