CO Springs - Last Day

The last full day that our family was together happened to be the 4th of July. So, our outing that day was a festive one-- a 4th of July parade.

 As we waited for the action to start, Jaden, Cody, and Abby passed the time with some snacks. Doesn't Jaden look especially relaxed? :)

The parade began with what was advertised as a "Children's Parade," which basically just ended up being community kids riding on their bikes (probably not worth arriving 30 minutes early for, but at least we got decent spots!).

One of the first parade entries to pass by was a guy with a cannon. He selected a kid from the crowd to "shoot off" the cannon. It was loud!

It was quite a good parade, though it was a bit long for our little ones. We enjoyed the wide variety of animals, costumes, dancing, and music.

Back at the home, we got in some good last-day playtime. Sarah captured a neat perspective of the kids' favorite "runway."

Just when it was nearly time to go, Jaden and Cody finally started warming up to everyone. :)

Cody, Uncle Andrew and Abby watch some "Abby videos."

Aunt Kim reads to Jaden & a whole couch full of others.

Cody loved Ian's bumpy horsey rides!

Our "organized playtime" involved a few different activities on this day. Kim brought out spray bottles filled with water and foam shapes for the kids to stick to the window. My boys LOVED this!

I'd never tried spray bottles with Jaden and Cody before, so they were amazed with these new instruments. Cody was hilarious to watch with his "I'm concentrating really hard" look.

I had to add this picture too, since it shows the line of cars and trucks that my boys loved forming along the window sill. Grammy was a patient teacher, helping all the kiddos understand what to do.

We also tried some bubble wrap painting prints. (Jaden and Cody got REALLY bothered by the thought of wearing smocks and couldn't be convinced to try the painting, even when we took the smocks away.) Ian and Ryan loved the time with paint, though!

Then we played a hide-and-seek game with a musical bear. Grammy brought this Christmas bear from home because it talks for a REALLY long time (basically summarizing the whole Christmas story!). It was perfect for this game! One adult or child would pick a hiding spot for the bear, start the music, and then let the others look. The hiding spot could actually be quite difficult, since the music led the kids to the bear.

It was a fun little twist on the normal hide-and-seek game. Jaden and Cody loved trying to figure out where the music was coming from.

It really confused them when Papa had the bear hiding in his shirt! Only Ian figured out this challenging spot.

We also played a game of Hullabaloo downstairs. The boys don't know their shapes at all, but they love running around to the right colors and even follow some of the directions at times (to spin, stomp, or crawl to a certain shape).

The directions say you're allowed to share a space. Jaden wasn't too pleased with this idea... :)

 In the evening, Mom and Dad volunteered to stay back with the sleeping kids while the rest of us went to watch fireworks. We figured that our parade festivities were enough of a celebration, though, so we all just stayed at home together to play some games, share a whole slew of pictures, and to have a final special dessert (as if we hadn't already eaten enough all together!). Matt, Andrew, and Jason planned a treat for us all-- gourmet s'mores! These guys roasted the marshmallows to our individual liking and then made the s'mores with quality chocolate (regular Hershey's, dark chocolate, Reese's, white chocolate, and I forget what even else was in their list of options).

Yes, these s'mores were quite tasty!

What a wonderful week with family!! We loved our time doing a variety of activities, having plenty of down-time, and being in the relaxed atmosphere of a home. Thanks for the fun memories, family. We love you!!