Naomi & I had fun making our own 'fireworks'. All the fireworks shows in SD started at 9:30 pm or so, so we didn't go see any this year. Fireworks can wait until the kids can see them without losing sleep.
Our festive girlies. We visited a local park on the 4th and the kids got to ride a pony.
Two San Deigo youths were apprehended yesterday and held on suspicion of illegally marking themselves. They promptly pled guilty and were booked. Above is their police mug-shot.
Kid updates:
Naomi's passion this month has been catching bugs for our pet lizard, Stumpy (he's missing a few fingers on one of his front feet). She has also learned how to swim quite well. She challenges herself to swim great distances (across the pool), and is pretty proud of herself when she does.
Isaiah continues to try to make everyone around him laugh. His new line when we're saying goodbye to people is, "Real soon, baboon." He still loves dinosaur books and going fast on a Razor scooter. He thinks he can swim, but he is actually only good at sinking and swallowing water. He doesn't seem to mind this too much - he just tries again and again.
Jordan is on the move...just crawling, but she is getting fast! She loves being outside, and bolts to the door when she hears it open. She eats a ton, and knows when we are all eating and she is not (this irritates her). Jordan has also learned how to wave, so she uses this (along with her devastating smile) whenever she wants to manipulate people.
Each summer for the last 5 years we've been going to the family cabin at Hume Lake with my sister, Mary Ann and her husband, Matt. We spent about 5 days up there this year and had a blast. We had one more person this year (Jordan Kate), making nap/sleep time a bit more challenging. Our strategy was to wear the kids out in preparation for nap time and sleep time. It worked pretty well.
Coffee each morning is a must, as is sitting out on the deck for every meal. There's also the obligatory lake-swimming and frisbee golf - as long as these don't impose too much on our deck-lounging. 
The kids had so much fun with these toys on the deck, and their 'cooking' toys in the dirt (dirt soup with pine-needle garnish, along with the classic mud pies, were pretty popular).
We also try to BBQ as much as possible.
Danny made a larger play area for the kids by terracing part of the (sloped) property next to the deck. Why play on the deck when you can play in the dirt?
A cheesy grin and a choke-hold. We're going to have to work on that.
My favorite (& only) sister!
Jordan Kate, getting into trouble.
