July 4th Weekend

We had a great July 4th weekend in Chicago this year!  We drove up on Wednesday, and there was no traffic amazingly! We got to the Carlson's around 7 PM central time.  The girls immediately went upstairs of course, to play with their American Girl dolls.  The boys were playing ball outside, Drew had the best time throwing this plastic ball around, and he found the ONE puddle in the street and had a great time splashing in it.  Alison was so proud because Mum Mum gave her Kirsten to use as her very own doll.  Drew had a great time playing with Gabe and Ben; he would push them a little and they would pretend like he pushed them across the room, and he just laughed so hard!  Lauren and Annabelle were up until almost midnight!!!  Those two night owls are crazy!!

Fun in the sandbox at 9 PM!

Thursday was July 4th and everyone was up by 7:30 I think.  We decorated the wagon and then we were off to the neighborhood parade.  We didn't see Gabe and Ben at all, but the girls were pretty cute. LAuren and Annabelle held hands for the entire parade and Alison rode in the wagon with the dolls, and Drew was in the stroller.  We were lucky to have such beautiful weather!!  After Drew's nap, we headed up to the Aquino's for the night.  It was so fun to see them, meet Wes and we were extra lucky to see Justin and Elizabeth!  We had a great night, catching up and the girls had the best time with the sparklers, and Bennett was finally brave enough to try them, too.  It was perfect to be able to sit on their patio and watch the fireworks...we were far enough away that we couldn't hear them, but we could see them really well.  The neighbors were crazy afterwards, they were shooting off all sorts of fireworks.  The girls were SO tired, they were asleep in about 5 minutes, and they slept in the next morning.

Drew's paci and monkey were never far the whole trip.

The girls were ready for the parade.

The Aquino's minus Wes.

Bennett was finally brave enough to try the sparklers!

We got back to Naperville around 10:30 and Nana and Papa were there, too!  Papa had to go up to Annabelle's room to see the girls because they just picked right up where they left off and played baby dolls.  They also had a great time playing in the sandbox.

At the park in Naperville.

Saturday, brad and his dad went to play golf; Ian and Gabe went to the movies and the rest of the crew went to downtown Naperville to walk around and have a picnic.  It was super fun!  we went to the bookstore first, and then we had a picnic and the kids were having the best time running around in this little grass amphitheatre they have, and then we went to the candy store, and Alison picked out two of the most expensive things in the store, which I didn't realize until they rang it up!  Thank goodness Drew was happy with his .21 lollipop!  We went to dinner at this yummy BBQ place, a loud place which was perfect for us!

Sunday, we got up and headed out pretty early.  Lauren really wanted to stay, we had such a great visit!  When we got home, we couldn't find brown-eyed baby, so I went to Target the next day to buy a replacement.  (I actually had to go to two different Target stores!)  And then when the girls got home from camp, Drew found her in the cozy coupe.  So now Brown-eyed baby has a friend!

The 6 Scheiner grandkids!