4th of July Weekend

With Chris up at the cabin for his brother's bachelor party, and our au pair, Marcel, away camping, the kids and I had a low-key Fourth of July weekend.  We had just enough on our calendars to not make a three-day weekend alone with the kids feel daunting, but also plenty of downtime to enjoy the lazy days of summer.

I was most excited about taking Kiera and Matteo strawberry-picking for the first time.  I wanted them to experience what is possibly my favorite part of summer - that first taste of a juicy Minnesotan-grown, freshly-picked strawberry warmed by the sun.

Strawberry-picking has become my Fourth of July tradition to do with my children. I love being able to set them loose in a field of strawberries and let them pick and eat as many berries as their hearts desire.  Just like with Oliver and Soren, it took some time for Kiera and Matteo to get the hang of picking berries, but eventually I didn't need to help them look under the leaves for the berries or instruct them to only pick the red ones.  They quietly and happily searched for berries to pick and munched as they went.

Thankfully the weather was not hot, so even though we were out in the sun all morning with no shade, it was still pleasant.  And that means we weren't spent before the afternoon rolled around, because our neighbors were hosting one of their epic barbecues later in the afternoon.

You may think that "epic" is an overkill description for a barbecue, but when they host, you're guaranteed excellent food served with a side of shenanigans.  They're reasonably quiet and unassuming people, but then they do things like rent a dunk tank for a barbecue.  Clearly these Yooper transplants know how to have a good time. 

When Chris heard about the dunk tank, he told the kids that they could try to dunk me.  Somehow this rumor that I would willingly sit on a spring-loaded board above a tank of cold water spread among party guests and I wondered how long I could hold off everyone's "encouragement" to be the next volunteer.  To my surprise, Oliver wanted to give the dunk tank a try.

My once shy and timid Oliver loved it!  This is just one of many recent example of how adventurous he has gotten in the last year.

Some of the other kids were curious enough about the dunk tank to climb in it, but no one else actually wanted to be dunked, so the tank turned into a glorified kiddie pool until the adults had had enough to drink to the point where they also thought the dunk tank was a good idea.

My neighbor is very "thorough".  Why light sparklers with a match when you have a propane torch?

Eventually it got way too late for my four to be still awake and they were so disappointed they had to leave before the S'mores (but, for the record, well after they'd gotten plenty of other dessert). Soren kept screaming at me, "I'M NOT TIRED!!!," which as any parent knows, means he was really tired.  I've never seen him glare so hard at me when I put him to bed. I went next door to get Oliver and found neighbor gathering firewood for the bonfire and Oliver rallying everyone with, "Let's get this fire started!"  Again, my once shy little boy is coming out of his shell!

Although the barbecue went into the wee hours of the morning, I had to call it a night once the kids were in bed. I needed my energy to finish the weekend strong.

My mother-in-law came the following morning to take the kids to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  She even packed lunches for the kids so when she showed up, all I had to do was hand her the keys to our minivan and off she went.  While the kids the very non-traditional garden exhibit of giant Lego sculptures, I had hours to myself alone in my own house.  That time went by way too quickly.



We didn't actually take part in any traditional 4th of July activities that day, like a barbecue or fireworks.  The sun doesn't even set until 9:00 p.m. at this time of year and there's no way the kids could stay awake that late. Plus the noise would terrify them.  Long after the kids had fallen asleep, I lay in my bed and could see fireworks from my window, a window that didn't exist this time last year since our renovation had yet to begin.  I watched the last of the fireworks explode above the trees and finally fell asleep. 

On Sunday morning we packed up and went to the Tamarack Nature Center, where we spent hours digging in the sand and water at the natural play area.  I love this place as much as the kids to.  It's full of sand to dig in, water to fill your pails with and boulders to climb on.  Presumably it would have been busier if it weren't a holiday weekend, because we mostly had the place to ourselves.

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 I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had only packed a picnic lunch and not a picnic dinner. Plus we had to get home for the women's World Cup Final!

My sister-in-law came over and made us a yummy Mexican dinner.  I rushed through baths while she started dinner.  I sent the kids down to the basement while Danielle and I cleaned up.  In a 90-minute game, chances of something happening the first few minutes is not likely, especially in a game of this importance where teams will probably start off playing conservatively.  I came downstairs at minute nine and anyone who follows soccer will know that I had missed the beginning of World Cup history.

Thankfully Carli put a third ball in the net so that I could see at least one of her goals live.

I had a wonderful weekend, but my gosh, by the time Monday morning rolled around, I was exhausted!