Independence Day (Week) 2012

This 4th of July was just what it should be - time spent with friends and family, tons of food, fireworks, swimming, and a little relaxing to boot.  We watched the UCO fireworks on Wednesday evening with the gang, then hit the road for Missouri Thursday morning to meet my family at the Niangua River for a few days.  Greg and I absolutely love to do river floats so we decided it would be a good time to introduce Nicholas to the fun.  He was very enthusiastic about it when we first told him he was allowed to go, but as it got closer and closer that enthusiasm started to waver.  But he stuck it out and went along anyway and did a fairly good job.  Fairly.  It was definitely not what he expected - I guess leisurely drifting down the quiet river isn't really all that appealing to a 4 year old, but we stopped a few times along the way to let him stretch his legs and swim a bit which would rejuvenate him for a wee bit.  We also switched seats near the end and let him be the navigator up front, which allowed him to imagine he was an Army guy, in a great big plane, loading bombs to drop on the other unsuspecting canoeists.  Here are a few of our favorite Nicholas lines, most of them muttered within the first 10 minutes of the ride:
"I want to go home."
"How many seconds til we're done?"
"This is boring."
"I want to go fast."
"I want a boat with a motor."
"I don't like this canoe."
And my personal favorite -
"This was a bad idea."
Ah yes, I can laugh about it now because I'm glad we did it together but I'm also glad it's over.  Someday he'll love it but I think our next float will be sans child.  After "camping" for a few days, we drove up to Rolla to visit Grandma, Aunt Kathy and the rest of the crew.  We made it just in time to crash their 4th of July party and watch their amazing fireworks show they do each year.  It was by far one of the best I've seen and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute.  The big bonus of the night was that Nicholas was so exhausted that he snuggled with me in my lap for over an hour.  I take every chance I get these days so I was in mommy heaven!

 3D Fireworks glasses which were actually pretty awesome.

Daddy's plan to beat the heat and have some fun doing it.

This is the "don't take my picture" pose. He was in a bit of a mood -
so what did I do?  Took more pictures.