Even though all of my children were born here, I don't really think of them as American. I'm not sure why - I guess because they're mine & I'm Australian, so I think of them that way too. However, I do love living here, and (I think I might have mentioned before) I can never make it through "The Star Spangled Banner" without crying .... so here are my kids and some of their cousins in their Independence Day gear, celebrating where we live.
Sara and her kids got her on Tuesday, and that night we headed up to Kensico Dam for a picnic dinner, concert and fireworks. I wasn't sure if my little guys would be scared - I've never taken Jacob to fireworks before. He LOVED it and sat riveted the whole time. Jane was adorable, and loved watching the 1st 15 minutes or so, before he exhaustion got the better of her and I nursed her to sleep. It was a pretty good fireworks display, and I think we'll add it to our list of regular activities.Today we headed up to Sunnyside - Washington Irving's home. The kids were great & we had a ball. The weather was cool, and breezy and not really humid at all.
There was a great juggler, who then juggled flaming torches. Jacob was ENTHRALLED - I'm not sure if it will prove to have been a good parenting move to let him see that!
Then we did some19th Century country dancing.
And the kids tried walking on stilts
with varying degrees of success
but had a really great time trying
and being helped by Dad.
They also had this game - I'm not sure what it's called, but there's a little boy doing it in every Victorian picture I've ever seen.
Jane was content to play in the rocks,
and walk around the grounds.
I'd like to get one of these for home. More challenging than it looks,
and it kept them busy for ages.
We toured the house, and watched them make ice-cream. (They could cut ice in January, and keep it in the ice house until September - amazing.)Then the kids made paper hats. The previous nights fireworks must have made an impression on Jacob - he was insistent on drawing them on his hat ("Big, go up a sky and POP!")
He also couldn't believe his luck that I let him use scissors!
Kate's was sweet, just like her.
Jane didn't want to be left out, and "colored" a hat too.
After going home to re-group (and put on warmer clothes) we went to the ward picnic - for 10 minutes. Right after I took these pictures the light rain turned into a steady downpour, so we went home to eat our picnic.
After the kids were ready for bed (the little guys were in bed) the rain stopped and we did sparklers.
And that was that! A great day. Happy Birthday America.
4 comments:
It looks like you guys had a lot of fun. It would have been so nice for the kids to spend time with their cousins. As I was looking at the pictures a guy from work came by and saw the picture of Jacob with his paper hat on. He asked who it was and I told him it was my nephew. He said, "You're getting clucky looking at those." Then I told him how many nieces and nephews I had and that I was used to these sort of pictures. All he could say was, "Wow". I'm glad you guys had a good 4th of July. Did I ever tell you I got American citizenship in May 2006?
those wooden hoops and sticks keep me busy for hours, i love them. whenever we can, i take the girls over to the lefferts historic house in prospect park to play with them. if i ever get a yard, that is the first toy i'm hunting down and buying. . .
hi tania! your children are beautiful and everytime i see a picture of rebekah, i'm amazed at how grown up she is. . .
That looked like a jammed back day... full of too much fun!! I wish I was there!
I'm just catching up on your blogs. I love to see you all having fun together, it warms the "cockles of my heart"! So glad Sara and the children could spend that time with you. What a great experience for them!
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