July 4th Fun!

Jim's mom, Grammie Wright, has been in town for a few days now and all of our laying-out-by-the-pool plans have mostly been washed away by the onslaught of rain.  It seemed as though all of our 4th of July plans would be out the window, too, but we were undeterred.  We started out the morning leisurely, with a couple rounds of breakfast, and then finally hit the road around 11:00 to take advantage of the free bowling being offered at Stars & Strikes (two free games for everyone!).

(Linc watching his daddy bowl - he insisted Jim wearing matching clothes for the day, lol)

Due to the fact that we had *just* been bowling the day before, the kids were pretty well bowled-out after one game.  They were tired, wore out and being even sillier than usual:

So we decided to quit while we were ahead and switch it up to playing a few (thousand) rounds of ski ball:

I'm sure that I probably *could* bowl since my doctor told me to wait 6-8 weeks after surgery for anything resembling strenuous activity and we've been on the go pretty much since I got home from the hospital... but only 4 weeks out from my c-section did not seem like an ideal time to test that theory, so I cheered on my husband, my mother-in-law, the kiddos, and hung out with this lovely little lady:

(I just cannot get enough of her!!!)

Afterward, we headed out to lunch at Panda Express for some yummy Orange Chicken.  We had other plans to shop as well, but the aforementioned silliness turned rapidly into crabbiness and we headed home for some much needed nap time!

It had rained off and on ALL day, with differently degrees of severity.  During nap time, Jim and I had discussed that our Big evening plans of attending the Braves game and firework spectacular after would probably be rained out. However, a lot can change in a 2.5-hour nap!  The kids woke up and the torrential downpour had dwindled away to just a light, occasional drizzle - so we packed up, ate a quick dinner at home and headed out. To be honest, I was feeling less than enthusiastic - it was raining pretty hard on the way, and the kids were still a little worn out; but sometimes you just have to decide to have fun regardless of the circumstance... and we sure did :-)

Getting ready to go - they were a little excited and ready to carry ANYTHING out to the van ;-)

Lincoln and Scarlett think its hilarious that she can tote him around like this - more so when they do crazy faces!

My kids HATE cotton candy... at least they used to.  They begged to try it *just one more time* and I don't know if they genuinely loved it or were just determined to MAKE themselves eat it after their sales pitch to Jim. 

Lincoln took one bite, made a face and declared: "There's HAIR all on my cotton candy!" No, son, that's just the texture and why mommy won't eat it either.

Had to get a shot of my Big girls and I!  We had trekked through 3 blocks of rain, sat in the muggy evening air, and didn't care because we were having fun together :-)

I sure was missing my baby girl!! I probably drove my mom crazy asking for updates ;-)  Looks like she was having a fun time, enjoying her Nana.

Grammie Wright was a trooper and sat next to Lincoln for the entire game, which is basically like playing a contact sport for 3 hours.  He likes to give surprise hugs, force feed those he's around, and occasionally give a surprise dental exam as you can see.

Jim created this little montage picture - love it! So glad we braved the weather and went anyway, we had such a great time :-)