What a fun 4th of July!

This afternoon, we reported to Fatherheart, the maternity home for Living Alternatives, in Van, TX at 3:00.  Larry & I were scheduled to have parking lot duty from 3:00-5:15.  We got our little volunteer lanyards to wear, wristbands for free supper/water (our payment for working) and then were directed to the parking lot & shown what to do.  We decided that Larry would take the first "shift" (an hour) and I'd take the second one.  While Larry was doing his shift, I took the kids to do all the FUN stuff they had for families.

First we did this inflatable water slide.  Samuel loved it.  We weren't aware that there would be wet activities, so the kids were in their regular clothes.  It was ok.  With soaring temps out there, he dried quickly.  Sarah wasn't too keen on getting wet, so she just watched him.  The slides had a sprinkler wetting them & then there was a little pool part at the end, so you got wet all the way down!

After this, we moved to another inflated slide thing (a dry one) but just as we got there, the generator running it quit & it quickly deflated.  Actually...now that I think about it, Samuel was still working on getting his shoes on when that happened & this slide (the water one above) deflated too....and all the water ran out onto his shoes.  He squealed & laughed, thinking that was the funniest thing in the world.  I, on the other hand, realized that it meant he'd have wet squishy shoes the rest of the evening.

When the 2 slides deflated, we had to move onto something else.  Luckily, this one was hooked up to a separate generator.

And then they spotted it.  The ultimate cool thing.  A rock climbing wall!  Samuel went first.  He got a little nervous & came back DOWN 2 or 3 times before he actually attempted to climb it.  And while he still didn't make it all the way to the top, he did TRY!

All this time, Sarah watched him, but was steadily pointing at an inflated bounce house thing that she wanted to go jump in, so as soon as Samuel wasdown off the wall, we made our way to it.  Funny thing is...there was a sign that said "NO WET KIDS".  Since Samuel was still soaked from the water slide, he had to wait for Sarah this time.  She was thrilled....because she had the whole bounce house to herself!

When we got done here, we moved to a playground where Sarah did a little swinging....

....and Samuel climbed into the covered part up high!

Eventually, he decided to slide down the pole, then Sarah joined him.

All this time, poor Larry was standing out in the hot, wide open field, parking cars.  He was totally in his ex-cop element.  It was fun to watch him because I could SOOO see that old uniform & patrol car & the gun belt and all.  In the pics above, you can see that back behind the kids there is a field & there is a line of cars.  THAT's where he was.  By the time the kids were done w/ the playground area, it was time for Larry & I to swap places.  I went out to where he was standing in the field to take over my shift & do you know what this sweet man did?  He said for me to go have fun with the kids.  He was doing OK parking cars & figured that I'd hate to stand out there & sweat all evening (he's so right!).  He also said that he'd noticed a bee's nest in the ground & was afraid one might come out & sting me.  How sweet was that?!  There was only about an hour left by then.  And so, without giving him time to change his mind (ha ha!), the kids & I were off to keep having fun.  :)  Look at my sweet hubby....

Some friends from church were arriving by this time.  They were scheduled to volunteer in various jobs at 6:00, but they came a little early to play & have fun.  And so with another kiddo by our side, we went back to go play on some of the things we'd already visited....and a couple of new things!

First, they tackled the rock climbing wall again.  With David (our friend's son) by his side, Samuel climbed a lot further up....

(That's our friend on the left & Samuel on the right.)  Samuel got ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP & hit the button to ring the bell this time!!!

YAHOO!!!!!!!  And with all that cheering for Samuel going on, Sarah could not be outdone.  So she tried the rock climbing wall, too!  (she's on the right)

She loved it & did it over and over.  Look at how high my baby girl got!  This is her at the top!

And then they spotted the foam!  Wow...the foam was COOL!  A local party company does this & it was the funnest thing (yes, I realize funnest is not a word, but hey...whatever).  They have a fence frame with a screendoor sort of screen on it to hold all the foam inside.  They have a little "doorway" for the kids to go inside & then they start filling the "fence" with foam.  It's so funny to watch the kids "swimming" through the foam (think bubble bath sort of bubbles, but very thick & very deep!).  Here's my little daredevil who went straight to the deepest area.  It really was as deep as it looks here---up to his chin!

And then there is my dainty girl who doesn't like to get dirty...even with soap bubbles, I suppose.  She was on the far side of the fence where the bubbles/foam had not filled up so deep yet, just playing with the foam with her hands.

The boys (Samuel & our friend David) were able to tackle the water slide a couple more times, but when Sarah started to enter the slide, she stepped in an antpile & got covered up in ants.  David's mom and I got her shoes & socks emptied out pretty fast & brushed all the ants off her legs & clothes before I took her to go find some ice to cool off the bites & her stinging hands.  I am not 100% sure that these were fire ants, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow if she's got little pustules all over!  Ouchy!  I felt so bad for her!

By that time that was over, Larry was getting done with his parking lot shift.  We got our free supper/water (which I must admit feeling very guilty about since I never actually WORKED) and then headed home.  Since Samuel's wet shorts were beginning to rub/chafe him really bad and the kids were wet, sweaty, dirty, we made the decision to come HOME & clean up and rest a bit before going to the fireworks show.  There was an end of the week VBS/day camp thing we could've attended, but we chose not to since we were all pretty filthy.  About 8:15, we loaded back up & went to watch the show.

The funny thing is, we told the kids that they could just wear their pajamas.  We figured they'd be in the car the whole time (we park across the street & watch from the car) so no one would see them.  And this is what Sarah came out of the house in.  Check out the awesome footwear.  LOL!

Eventually it got dark & the show started.  They were mesmerized.

I tried to get a couple of pictures of the fireworks & of course, these don't do them any justice, but I tried...

By the time we got home, Samuel was asleep.  I had to carry him into his bed.  Luckily he's still very light, so I can do that!  Sarah dozed off too, but she's a pretty light sleeper & she woke up to walk in.  We're all pretty wiped out.  It's 11:35 now.  I'm going to take a quick shower & hit the sack myself.  :::yawn:::

Goodnight.  And God Bless America!

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