(I'm fairly sure that T.S. Eliot would be mortified to learn that his work is being paraphrased by a middle-aged houswife blogging about her 4th of July experiences with her two preschoolers....but like they say, a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and it's not like I'm spending my time writing deep, introspective studies of 20th century poets)

So, our 4th of July was wonderful!  Looking back, we covered just about everything that you're "supposed to do" on the 4th of July.  There was water;  there were hot dogs; there were flying bugs; there were fireworks; there was a lot of laughter from two very happy little girls.  Steve had to go into work yesterday morning and I got caught up on some embroidery projects that I had been putting off and putting off.  I practically get hives when people ask me to embroidery premade things for them...now, I don't mind when people ask me to embroidery onesies or cloth diapers or to create something from scratch for them.  If I mess those up, they're easy to replace.  But, I had a canvas tote bag to do for a friend and some really nice towel to do for one of Steve's coworkers.  And as soon as the needle hits the material on those projects, I start worrying that something's going to happen to mess up the original product.  Which is probably why I'll never be a professional embroiderer .  Anyway, I finished my projects and Steve came home and we packed up and headed to the lake for a few hours.  It was as crowded as I've ever seen it, but there was still plenty of room in the water and still parking places to be found (which didn't seem to be the case at the beach - several spots we drove past on the way to the lake had cars parked all over the place - it was definitely a busy day at the beach yesterday).  But, at the lake, everything was perfect.  The girls had a wonderful time.  We took a mini-picnic, but as usual, the girls just wanted to be in the water.  I've taken them to the lake a few times this year, but nothing comares to Daddy being there!  I don't throw them in the air and let them do cannonballs.  To tell the truth, I like it better when Daddy goes to - I don't get many pictures taken when I take them by myself and well, everything is just more fun when Steve is with us.  (And, if anyone pays attention to stuff like this....I was sitting down in the water when I took these pictures...I just couldn't get the shots I wanted from the shore.  Probably not the smartest thing to do...but it's so much fun.  A  little boy at the lake was totally perplexed by the crazy woman with the big camera out in the middle of the lake.  I heard him ask his mama, "Hey!  What's that lady doing?"  and then he same out and got right in front of my lens to take a peek .  I'd have taken a picture of him, but he was too close for my lens to focus!)



Abigail is like a fish at the lake - about the only time she wasn't under the water was when Steve was tossing her up in the air.  The girl is exhausting!














On our way home, we hit a good bit of traffic at the state line.  Steve was a bit grumpy about "tourist drivers", but I was kind of tickled, because we slowed down enough for me to take this picture.  I always try and capture the parasailers on the way home, but we're going too fast and we always manage to pass in front of a high-rise condo just as I press the shutter button.  So, slowing down was a good thing.  I'm planning on trying this out next year.  I asked Gracie if she wanted to do it with me.  She said, "No way, Mama!  No way!"  Abigail piped up from her car seat, "I do it with you Mommy!  Yep, me go with you!"  We'll see...somehow I think you have to be older than two to parasail!



Abigail passed out on the way home and took a well-deserved nap.  Gracie and I made strawberry salsa. 



Once Abigail woke up, we had dinner on the back porch.    This picture makes me laugh out loud.  This is her latest "picture face".  Everytime the camera comes near her, she scrunches her nose and closes her eyes and more than half my pictures of her turn out blurry because I'm laughing so hard, the camera shakes!






After dinner the girls and I played in the back yard for a while and then we baked "flag" cookies.  I asked Abigail why she was bunching all the cookies together on the cookie sheet and she said, "I'm building a castle!"  Of course!  Blocks, cookies it's all the same when you're two!


Before too long it was time for fireworks.  Steve had picked up a few to shoot off in the backyard and we were able to see a pretty display from someone who was shooting them off over the Intracoastal.  I was a little bit grumpy because my new tripod was making me madder than a wet hen.  The problem is, I don't use it often enough to know how to use it well and I wasn't able to move it the way I wanted.   I finally got it figured out after all the fireworks were done...oh well, maybe next year I'll be more comfortable with it.

To say Abigail was not a fan of the fireworks would be to say that the Mississippi is a little creek.   As soon as she heard the first kaboom, she started screaming.  So, Steve and I sent her inside.  Great parents we are....he's all caught up in his little pyrotechnic show and I'm all caught up in the dream of catching the "perfect" fireworks pictures.  So,  Gracie went inside with her to console her.  Nothing like a sister to help you out (remind me sometime to tell you about the time I was choking and my sister ran inside to get something to help me while my parents just laughed....in their defense, I wasn't really choking, I just thought I was...).  Anyway, after a few minutes, Gracie came back outside to get me and said, "Mama, Abigail NEEDS you!"  So I went inside and into their bedroom and saw Abigail sitting in the corner, crying.  Gracie said, "She was just fine and then she started crying and I tried singing Jesus Loves Me and even THAT didn't help."  So, I spent a while consoling her (with Gracie's very loving help that involved a lot of hair stroking and whispered, "Don't worry baby, big sister's here....").  She calmed down rather quickly and told me to go outside and check on Steve.  I was able to get a few fireworks shots...

Here's our little display


and the ones over the water that we could see from the back yard



After we came inside, it was a little after 9:30.  Gracie mentioned that her ear was hurting.  By 10:00 p.m., she was curled up in a ball on the bed, whimpering that her ear hurt really, really hurt.  She actually asked for ear-numbing drops and then some Motrin.  Gracie HATES taking medicine of any kind and she particularly hates anyone doing anything to her ears, so I knew she was in some serious pain.  Luckily, after the medicine, she slept fairly well and woke up raring to go. 

So, even though our 4th ended with a whimper instead of a bang, it was an all-around awesome day!