I suspect Hubby now considers my Bro to be something of a demigod, showering down Rush concert tickets like manna from heaven. SIL has the same status since she was the one who acquired the front row tickets for Friday nights show.
While Hubby went with Bro to the concert, the kids and I made sure the hotel swimming pool was in good working order. By the time the pool closed, the kids were worn out sufficiently to ensure quickly falling asleep. We had a room with two Queen beds and a rollaway bed. Two of the kids were to share one of the Queens for the evening. The boys quickly falling asleep was further encouraged by my telling them that if they had ANY problems whatsoever, I would take their hard earned 4th of July money from them. Not surprisingly, bedtime went smoothly and they fell asleep quickly.
Yesterday for the 4th we had a blast. We took my MIL out for breakfast that morning, then headed down to the Fort around 10:30 or 11 to stake out The Perfect Spot. We settled into a spot which offered us a few hours of late morning/early afternoon shade, then had us basking in the sun for the afternoon. I made sure the kids were all liberally sun-screened, applied it to myself, then handed it over to Hubby. I had us all re-apply several times during the day. While the kids and I fared well with the application, Hubby seems to have missed the same parts of his chest and stomach every time. He has an almost perfect right triangle sunburn on the right side of his trunk. He reports that it’s not too bad, except his sunburned nipple, and that is rather uncomfortable.
Other than that, we all thoroughly enjoyed the day. The Army had a rock wall and were letting anyone who wanted to give it a try climb it. #2 didn’t choose to do so, but #1 and #3 had a blast and climbed 3 of the 4 walls available. #2 decided he wanted a henna tattoo. He is now sporting a light brown tattoo on his arm and is quite impressed with it. If the light is right, and you look closely, it even is visible over his tan! #1 is the proud new owner of a green tie-died shirt. In fact, it was the only green shirt there, standing out starkly against the multitude of red, white and blue shirts. #3 chose to purchase a glider-type toy. It is kind of a cross between a Frisbee and a boomerang. He played with it for several hours at the Fort yesterday, and has played with it almost nonstop today. Miracle of miracles, it is not broken yet!!!!!
Since we spent a patriotic day at the 4th of July celebration, we chose to truly celebrate the thing that is America for lunch. No, we did not have hot dogs or burgers. We chose to celebrate diversity! Teriyaki was definitely called for at lunch time. We had a cooler full of drinks, a few snacks, strawberries and cherries. What better to set those off than Teriyaki?
Our friend and her son (same age as the twins) joined us for the evening fireworks. We visited and enjoyed watching the bombs bursting in air as the day drew to a close. Following the official fireworks, we headed back to the hotel parking lot where other revelers were firing off their purchases of the day. Our friend and her son were kind enough to share what they had with us, and the kids did what teenaged boys love to do best.
They blew shit up.
We all stumbled to bed exhausted and happy. I suspect this is one Independence Day the boys will remember for years to come.