4th of July Week-end

The Wissinks came to spend the 4th of July week-end with us.  It was a beautiful week-end and we had a great time. They arrived on Thursday, and Jeremiah had  Wirth Park Pool on his agenda for Friday.  He wanted his Daddy to see what a cool place it is.  So we packed a picnic lunch and spent some time at Tot Lot first for some playground fun.  And then we headed for the pool, and they all had a great time! (no  pool pictures this time, though)

Jeremiah loves to help Grandpa with any yard work he might have. And sometimes they just do some snipping even when it's not really necessary. And it's always a good idea to wear Grandma's gardening gloves.

That evening Adam and Rachel took advantage of the free babysitting and went out for dinner.  We had Papa Murphy's Pizza at home with Jeremiah.  We had ordered a pizza with sausage on just half of it, because Jeremiah said he didn't like sausage.  Well---he took one look at that pizza and he changed his mind!  And now he loves sausage pizza!!

Saturday was the 4th of July, and in Brookfield that means PARADE!!  It's not a huge parade or anything, but people put out their blankets and lawn chairs along the parade route the night before.  We've always sort of poked fun of that, but this year we joined in that craziness.  Adam and Rachel staked out a spot when they went out for dinner Friday evening. We wanted  to be sure that we'd have a good spot for watching the parade with the kids--and you have to be right on the curb in order to get the candy that they throw out. :)

Ready for the parade!

  Not only candy--tennis balls!

And what is the 4th of July without fireworks?  We went to watch the Elm Grove fireworks and met the Brassers there.  We watched from a school, so there was even a playground for Jeremiah while we waited for the fireworks to begin. 

                                           Showing off his glow sticks

Jeremiah thought that the 4th of July activities in Brookfield were---GREAT!! He is a fun kid to do these things with, because he gets so excited about everything. The fireworks were beautiful and LOUD and I think he sat on the blanket and clapped his hands through the whole thing.  Hope, on the other hand, fell asleep and slept right through all the bangs and booms! 

Grandpa and Hope relaxing on the porch

On Sunday, the 5th, we had to head down to Chicago to pick up Matt at Midway airport.  He was coming for his 2-week class at Calvin.  So we left before the Wissinks did, and then we all met over at Roger and Sheryl's house.  We had a nice lunch there with Ben, Nate's family, and Adam's family. The only ones missing from this family gathering were Aaron's family,  Abby and Neil, and Cheryl and the kids.  Somehow I didn't get any pictures of all the cute cousins playing together.  This is the only picture that I took that day. 

Hope getting re-acquainted with Uncle Matt