The 5th of July

Yesterday started like any non-work or non-school day by meeting Amy Light and her brood of Henry and Audrey at Green Lake Park's wading pool for a good ol' fashioned play date. By 10:30AM the weather was a nice 75 degrees and Hennie and I were ready for some kiddie splashing action.

We waded around, back and forth, for about an hour before a certain clock-minded daddy thought it was a good time to go and procure some ice cream before we parted ways for toddler nap time. The ice creamery of choice for this day was the nearby Mix, right across from the wading pool. It was only 11:15AM and sadly we found out that they don't open until noon... Too much time to wait with two toddlers and an infant. Drat!

Daddy and I did manage to get our ice cream later by a visit to The Scoop at Walter's near Sunset Hill in Ballard. I had the peach while Daddy had the mojito sorbet. Poor guy can't have actual ice cream. But with Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt, dude ain't missing out on much.

When Mommy finally made it home from her training, empty-handed she was not. After her workout she stopped by Whole Food and picked up some beef links, a chicken link, a spicy sausage link and some burgers for later. Daddy quickly fired up the grill, made a rum and coke and was officially in business to fully enjoy the holiday.

Contrary to the way Mommy usually runs the calendar, we basically just had a day to ourselves after our morning play date. During my nap Mommy and Daddy sat in the backyard sipping their cocktails and playing games. Mommy smoked Daddy in a heated round of Scrabble before Daddy reciprocated with lashing her at Boggle. After my nap we headed to the zoo and checked out the few animals that were up for braving the heat. As it was an hour before closing time on a popular holiday, the place was essentially ours. Fun!

We migrated to the playground where I had fun playing alongside a girl that was from Germany. She spoke English without an accent and her parents knew their stuff too. It was remarkable to watch the girl effortlessly switch back and forth between German and English. Daddy claims he can too... But he's talking about beer.

Inevitably the loud booms and strings of firecracker pops jarred me out of my sleep and had me pretty worked up. Mommy walked in on me sitting up in my bed, shivering in fear. Her maternal instinct kicked in and she moved me to her bed since Daddy was likely to be sleeping solo on the sofa as a result of his night owl hijinx. Mommy dreads doing this as she knows she'll earn another sleepless night since I'm a CONSTANT mover while I sleep. But no matter... We had a great day together as a family.

Happy birthday America. Enjoy yourselves. Just keep it down while I'm trying to sleep!