4th of July

We met up with our friends Eric and Joanna and their kids Jared and Evan (Jared is Ben's best friend) for dinner last night before heading to see the fireworks show uptown. We timed everything quite nicely - a late lunch and a late nap for Rebecca (she woke up at 5pm) so she wouldn't be too tired to stay up for the 9:30 fireworks show. We had dinner at Hawthorne's and then found a baseball field near the fireworks that people seemed to be congregating in with lawn chairs and blankets. We set up our own chairs and blankets and the kids ran around and played tag for an hour or so until it got dark and the fireworks show began.

Last year you may remember, we went to the fireworks show at Providence country club and Ben ran screaming into the clubhouse the moment they started. This year, perhaps emboldened by the presence of his friend, he enthusiastically watched the whole show yelling "AWESOME! OH YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME!" for the entire half hour. Rebecca on the other hand, watched the show also on my lap, but she was very quiet, her hands were sweaty, and I could feel her pulse racing. Every time I asked her if she was okay, she would say "yeah" very quietly and kind of hoarse. She didn't cry though, and clapped when it was over along with every one else -- and then broke down and started crying and shaking for a couple of minutes after it was over. So I felt pretty bad for her at that point, but it only lasted a minute and then she calmed down and seemed fine as we were getting ready to go.

Leaving the downtown area where the fireworks were was a bit of a problem though, as the lot where we parked was so crowded it was impossible to even get out of our parking spot. It took us about 45 minutes before we managed to back out, get out of the lot, and away from the traffic. At about this time that we were home free and breathing a sigh of relief, Ben announced that he had to pee. Which was kind of expected since he drank a large bottle of Gatorade while we were waiting for the fireworks, with no bathroom access.

Unfortunately Ben is very bad at holding his bladder once he decides he has to pee. So I handed an empty cup back to him and told him if he really couldn't hold it, to use the cup. I should also mention that Ben has such horrendous aim that he almost always sits down to pee, because he doesn't make a mess that way. So peeing into a cup while sitting buckled in his seat proved to be far too difficult a task for him, and soon I heard him shout, "Oh no! It's going everywhere!" And then I FELT it going everywhere, and so did Joel -- yes Ben somehow managed to pee on my arm, and on the side of Joel's face, from the back seat. Cudos to Joel, who somehow managed to keep driving while being peed on.

So we arrived home at 11pm, with 3 of the 4 of us covered in pee. (Rebecca somehow was spared).

I'm still going to put this adventure down in the "successful" column though.