Wednesday, July 8, 2009

4th of July, Engagement and Sears Party

The day dawned grey and rainy. Can it really "dawn" if it is grey and rainy? Well, anyway, I got up early to take a shower and enjoy a few minutes of quiet before the ruckus began. I got everyone up and we got ready to head to Turner for the Festival on the Green!!! "Hey, kids! Are you excited to see the parade and the family and have a PAR-TAY?"
I think that you could say that they were a little on the hyper side!

We got to Turner and got a great parking spot up near the middle school in the shade. That is right...shade. Because the sun came out with a vengence! Speaking of shades, Reed decided that Auntie's shades looked better on him!

First stop, after the family meet and greet, was the library basement, for the massive, incredible, over-the-top book sale! We got a box of books, mostly for the kids for $7 bucks!!! The kids were so excited! Pokemon and Transformers and bed-time books, OH MY!!!
The parade was so much fun!! It was really long. Some of the high points for the kids were the little ponies, the big horses with the braids, fire trucks (that didn't blow their horns...THANK YOU, Town of Turner). Their favorite part, you may ask? Well, THAT would be the candy! Tons and tons of candy thrown from every float that went by, every vehicle, every kid riding his decorated bike. They hit the motherlode! They were stuffing their faces and having a blast!
We got to go into the Turner Natural History rooms. We saw sea shells and birds, bird eggs, petrified snakes (or snakes that petrified....depended on who you were!) and all sorts of neat things!
And, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know who it is in this picture who found a catapillar (or cap-i-tiller as he is so fond of calling them). This ones name is...yup! You guessed it...Marching Bull 2 (see the blog about Memorial Day if you don't understand that).

The Turner Ridge Riders parked their truck with tracks that they use to groom the snowmobile trails. Nathan thought that it was cool, but not as cool as the capitillar....you can see that he still has it in his hand.
And what can be better than candy at a parade? If you answered cotton candy, you would be right! It would be remiss of me in my role as caretaker if I did not buy them each a bag of cotton candy and make sure that they did not share it with anyone! So they each got a bag and Chris and I shared one. Mmmmm!!! Cotton candy for breakfast! Who is the best mom-like-person around? That's right! I am!
We were the first group down at camp and the kids hopped in the water right away. They hopped right back out pretty quickly too. A month of rain does not a warm pond make. So they chilled (hehehe) on the dock and blew bubbles.
Evvie and the giant ice cube. It was meant for the soup, because the microwave that mommy and daddy donated to camp is a lot stronger than the 20 year old one that had been down there before.
This is the gorgeous fruit spread that my man made. I helped (sort of...I scraped out one of the watermelon aligators). Can you believe his talent? Amazing!


And.....drum roll please....CHRIS PROPOSED!!! In front of my whole family!! Everyone was laughing and crying and hugging! I was as high as a kite! I don't know who was happier, the kids, my parents, his parents, or us!!! It was so amazing and so romantic and the ring is just GORGEOUS!!!!! Check out this bling!!!!!!!

This picture was taken in the car on the 5th while we were driving to Zach's graduation party. The sun was shining through the window and the ring was blasting rainbows all over the car. Okay, so yes, I am a tomboy....and yes, I love my blue jeans WAY more than skirts, but I AM girly enough to also love shiny gold baubles for my finger!! (high pitched squeeling noise...was that me? Yes! Yes, it was!!)
We had a blast at Zach's party. The food was amazing, the weather was beautiful, and Nathan had fun with blueberries....

Ava and Amelia had fun in the stream. They found a dead crayfish body and searched for live crayfish.


My big guy and my nephew...he's 3 months old already...can you believe it??
A beautiful end to a beautiful day....