July 4th

We had a really great 4th of July this year with family.  I love July 4th in suburbia...all the homes have flags out, there seems to be a parade or some celebration in every small town and you can smell the backyard grills fired up in every backyard!  We were no different!  We started our day at Ft. Meigs for the military festivities.  They were having a canon ceremony as well as other historic military activities.  I stayed inside with Cameron, she can't really handle the sound of the canons, while everyone else went out for the ceremony.  Timo was so excited to hold a musket!

 We met up with them a little later and toured the museum inside, recreating the War of 1812.

We came home and fired up the grill and I cooked an all American meal for my Korean family, complete with baked beans, ribs and fresh grilled corn.

Uncle Joe brought  over his corn hole boards and got into a heated game with Timo while we warmed up the grill for smores! 

 

Then came the fireworks.  I tried to plan ahead and got Cameron some earplugs, the soft ones that you stick in your ears and are supposed to stay.  I guess her ears are so tiny, the plugs wouldn't stay in.  No matter how hard we tried and cut them down, they kept popping out.  So we decided I would stay home with her while everyone else walked over to the firework celebration.  Unfortunately some of our surrounding neighbors started setting off their own fireworks cause much distress to my little girl.  We tried everything to protect her, even turned up the TV to cut down on the noise but there was really nothing else to do but just hold her and help her get through it. 

You could see the fireworks from our house so I stepped while Mom took over as comforter for a while.  I came back in and found her asleep while Harmony sang to her.  Poor little girl.  I don't know why she can't handle loud noises (canons, fireworks, balloons popping, flying jets) but I hope she grows out of it soon.

The rest of the family came home and Timo was so proud of himself for walking the whole way there and back, a little over a mile, all by himself.  Because it doesn't get dark there until 10pm, the fireworks did start till 10:15, meaning they didn't get back home till almost 11:30.  Timo didn't get to bed till midnight...what a great 4th he had!