July 4 weekend

This morning when I went to get Luke from his crib he said, "Birthday cake and balloons?" "No, that's tomorrow," I said. My guys are getting very excited about their birthdays coming up tomorrow! Yesterday Heather said, "I thought it was the 7th."

Well, it should have been. My pre-eclampsia was full blown and dangerous with my blood pressure in the 200s over 110 and I had a high fever that Friday night but there was no physician until morning so I lay awake the night of the 7th as the nurse checked on me every hour and took my bp and temp. So their birthday is tomorrow instead.

Since our town celebrates on the weekend after the 4th, we don't do much on the 4th. This year I took the twinkies to the zoo on Friday which was a colossal mistake. Since it was overcast I mistakenly thought few would be there. Not only was it the most crowded I'd ever seen, we had to park like 2 miles away on a residential street. But my guys were excited once we got there to ride the train and see the animals.

Two undercover detectives on the train...

Then Lk decided he wanted to sit between me and his brother to feel more secure, so he swapped places with Lm and held on to our legs with each hand as security.

They are starting to appreciate the animals more now...

We left after 2 hours because we couldn't get in the indoor stuff easily what with the huge lines (usually there are no lines) so we cut our losses and came home but they still very much enjoyed it; it was more me that was miserable dealing with the crowd and the stroller etc.

Sat was much better. We went to a parade in a nearby town with my parents.

They were very eager to get candy in their buckets...

Lk held his out pretty far...

Lm wanted to dig in...

They love farm equipment and waved at every float.

My guys were pretty content with their loot though they wanted to eat it all right then and there.

Lm got a sticker which he proudly wore all day

They got a set of sparklers in one of their buckets so I set those off that night. That's about as far as I will go with firecrackers. The first two were duds so I grabbed the remaining ones from the pack and lit them all at once to get it over with. Shouldn't have done that as they all took and sparks went flying everywhere on my wooden porch, scorching a board or two and scaring the **** out of my boys, not to mention myself as I am lucky to still have my right hand intact!

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to take them to a different zoo with my mom and Friday's the big town doings with another parade, then their big birthday party Saturday.

HARD TO BELIEVE MY GUYS WILL BE THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!