Puppets, Swimming and Fireflies

We had a fun family day on the 4th of July.  I started early with a 5:30am bike ride with a good friend.  I logged my fastest and farthest ride yet!  Austin sweated walked the Shell Rock parade in the morning for the Republicans.  While Lincoln & I laid down after lunch, Emily occupied herself for over an hour creating sock puppets and a box stage to go with a short play called The Golden Ball she found in a Child Craft book.  That kid can make anything with construction paper, yarn and scotch tape!  Austin had to help out being the King and Prince while Emily was the Princess and Frog.  I didn't have enough battery to record the whole thing, but there is a partial video in the July play list that includes Lincoln's role. (It's too bad you can't see the taped-on yarn smiles on the puppets in the pictures.)

After the performance, we all donned our swimming suits and went swimming at the Waverly pool.  Although it was still blistering hot, most of the crowd was on their way home, and we eventually had the little pool to ourselves.  The kids had fun playing with Daddy and it was nice having two adults for going in the big pool.  I could definitely tell the kids were braver and more comfortable in the water after swimming lessons and our trip to the beach.  Unfortunately, our time ended when Lincoln was running back into the zero-depth entry and slipped and hit his head. :o(

After an All-American supper and bath time, the kids eagerly awaited dusk so they could go out and catch fireflies!  Lincoln definitely improved his technique over last year and actually caught the first one.  I think they ended up catching about a dozen, although there were never more than six in the bug box at a time.  Emily let them all go at the end anyway.  It's also very hard to take good pictures of moving targets in the dark!

A little before 10:00pm we climbed into the van and started driving towards the Shell Rock fireworks.  We ended up pulling off on the side of Hwy. 3 along with 50 other cars lining the road.  The kids oohed and aahed from inside the air-conditioned van with only small popping sounds heard in the distance.  We pulled out and headed home before the show was over to avoid the inevitable bottle-neck traffic.  It was a great day!