Fourth of July Fun

Well, my intentions of blogging a couple days after my previous blog went right down the pooper. But, I am blogging sooner than I normally do, so I think I deserve some props for that! ;)

We were especially excited for the Fourth of July because we were finally out of school for the summer! I think I mentioned before that Mason and I decided to do summer school. This year it was full days, which really made the days drag, especially with it being summer. We didn't have super huge plans for the fourth, other than spending it together. But we were excited to hear that we were going to have some unexpected visitors! My friends Ashley and Ben came down with their son Cooper and my brother JJ to buy a four wheeler as a surprise for Cooper's birthday. They came down on the third and had to leave by mid-afternoon on the fourth. It was a very quick visit, but good to see them nonetheless!

Cooper and E playing on the floor.

Eli with his Uncle JJ after eating at The Tator Patch.

Me and Ash

The morning of the fourth I ran a color run 5K over at Ft. Leonard Wood with my friend Paige. Mason and Eli came to cheer us on. I'd never done a color run before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, other than I'd get "colored." I didn't realize that the color they throw is actually a powder. There were A LOT of participants (including some of my former students) which made it difficult to truly run at times, but I still managed to beat my last 5K time by about five minutes, which I was very happy about! And I ran the entire thing, which was my main goal!

I didn't think to take a before picture, but this is what I looked like afterward. Somehow I managed to get my birth year for my race number.

Paige and myself

Eli didn't know what to think of all the colorful people everywhere!

Once we got back home and I cleaned up, we went for lunch at The Tator Patch before Ash, Ben, Cooper, and JJ had to head back up to Iowa. Mason, Eli, and I had intentions of going down to the river after they left, but we decided to take a nap first. I was pretty tuckered out and so was Eli. However, once we got down there we took Eli for his first boat ride. He didn't seem to care for his life jacket very much (mostly because it's so bulky), but he loved riding up and down the river. He only got antsy and whiny when we stopped!

He's excited about his first Fourth of July!

Checking out the water with Grandpa Heavin. Eli LOVES the water!

Getting ready for his first ride!

He loved it!

That evening we went back to Rolla for the fireworks. They don't start them until 11:00, so Eli slept for a couple hours and then we woke him up to go watch. He's never really been bothered by loud noises, but we weren't sure how he would react to the fireworks since we were so close to them. Turns out, he loves them too! He would flinch with the big booms, but didn't seem scared.

Waiting for the show to start with his dad.

I sure loved my cuddle time!

The same place where the fireworks were held (it's actually the same park where we had our wedding reception), is where they have the Fourth of July carnival as well. Obviously Eli isn't quite big enough to really ride many of the rides, but we went with Paige, her son Colton, and her sister Madison to enjoy the festivities. Eli seemed content to watch from his stroller, and he thoroughly enjoyed the funnel cake he got to share!

My favorite little boy and I before heading to the carnival!

Checking everything out!

All in all, we had a really great holiday weekend! I'm definitely looking forward to next year when Eli can ride the rides and have a better idea of what is going on!