A Day in the Life...: Table Rock and the 4th of July

Well, it seems like our vacation this year FLEW by. Probably because we only were able to stay 3 days since I had a kid in January and used ALL of my vacation/sick days :) But the 3 days we had there were so nice. We go every year with Nick's family and usually camp in a tent. Last year, being 4 months pregnant and extremely nauseous, I was SO over camping and boating. This year, it was MUCH better. We rented a cabin that was just right across the cove from his family's camp site. They were able to park their boat at our cabin's dock and then just drive 5 minutes back and forth to their campsite.

Tommy did SO good on the boat. I wish so bad I would've taken a few pictures of him in his life jacket because it was rediculously large on him and if we would've zipped it all the way, it would have covered half his face!! Haha....it was so funny, but I felt bad for the little guy because it couldn't have been comfortable. It kept squishing his cheeks and giving him squinty little eyes. He just wasn't quite long enough for it to fit. I did get a picture of his bath at our cabin! We only had a shower and not a tub, so the kitchen sink did the trick.

In true Tommy fashion, he kept trying to lick the faucet--gross. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. But anyways, it was so nice to get away and this time (since we weren't hauling our tent and sleeping bags and living out of suitcases) it didn't seem like quite so much work and it was actually very relaxing!

On the way home from Table Rock, we stopped at a fireworks stand to buy some firecrackers for Tommy's very first 4th of July! Nick always likes to stock up on bottle rockets since they're illegal in Kansas. Personally, I don't see the appeal to bottle rockets since they aren't pretty, but whatever. I was excited for Tommy to see all the fountains and pretty fireworks.

Notice how excited he is in his picture with his dad and how annoyed he is that his dad's not holding him in his picture with me. Oh yeah, he's ALL momma's boy when he's cuddly and tired, but when it comes to anything else, he wants daddy. I see how it is.......carry a child for 9 months, gain 30 pounds, waddle for 3 months, go through labor AND a c-section and he doesn't even care. I see how it is :).

We had some family over on the 4th and we grilled out and gorged on delicious 4th of July food. It was SOOOO yummy and fun. Michael and Nick had a good time with all the bottle rockets. They kept scaring Brooke (better her than me!). They emptied out a Roman candle and then put a regular firecracker in it. Brooke didn't know that so when they lit the fuse, she thought it was a Roman candles that were going to shoot out. They pointed it right at her and she FREAKED out!! It was great.

Tommy spent a lot of time in his exercauser and on this foam mattress thing we have. He got pretty whiney because it was so hot so he took a little nap and woke up in a better mood.

Brooke bought him a fountain. I don't know if you can read the label in the picture but it was named Tommy Rocks! It actually turned out to be his favorite one of the night and it was a really awesome fountain. It lasted for like 5 minutes and was really pretty. Tommy was just staring at it in a daze and then kept looking at me like, "Mom, what the H is that?!?" But then he would start rocking on my lap and gurgling, so I think it was a hit.

Is it kosher to let your kid eat fireworks?

As for the rest of the fireworks, it was pretty funny because he would hear the loud boom and stare at the ground where it came from which kept him from seeing the pretty explosions in the air. But oh well, he's too little to care much anyways. It was just fun being with the family and watching him experience everything for the first time.