Peter Turns Four

Alex, Ashton, Gabriel, Lisa, Vivian, Jim, Ezra, OdaLisa, Natalie, Julia, Jade holding Adaline, Amelia, Robert and Peter peeking in

We celebrated Peter's birthday the same day as the snow day. I was a little worried on Friday that we might have a really low turnout due to the coming storm. But since we didn't get too much snow and it didn't ice the roads too bad, everyone was able to make it! Both sets of grandparents were there, Uncle William, Peter's NC cousins with their mom, Natalie, and some neighbors that Jonathan invited earlier that morning. 

We played a quick game of pin the balloon on the birthday poster, then opened presents, ate cake and played. Peter had a blast playing with the other kids. It was a little crazy, but overall it was a fun little party. It reminded me that kids don't need much to have a great day. They don't need everything matching or a huge present or anything crazy. They need love and a happy home. 

The circle of presents

I love Julia holding Ezra in this one, cousin love!

When I first asked Peter what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "Chocolate." I asked what kind of shape he wanted and he responded with, "Circle. Oooo, and I want sprinkles on top!" I almost prompted him to do something else, when Jonathan stopped me, "If he wants a circle cake, let him have a circle cake. I'm sure he'll ask for harder things in the future." Good point, good husband. So, we were set, chocolate cake with sprinkles on top.

Then, when Jonathan's parents were in town, I told Peter to tell OdaLisa what kind of cake he wanted. He said chocolate circle. Then, Jonathan's dad, Jim said, "Peter, you could have a castle cake, or a train or..." and just like that, the circle cake with sprinkles was out the window. Peter tends to work in extremes, he's either in a great mood or terribly sad, or he knows exactly what he wants (like Batman for Halloween) or he is incredibly indecisive. He took the indecisive route with this cake. Every color, every flavor, every shape and changing on a dime. He finally settled on a blue train cake with half strawberry and half funfetti cake. Peter and Jonathan decorated the train with a little guidance from Google, other's train cakes and me. I think it turned out pretty awesome.  

Train cake for the win!

Blowing out the candles

For his birthday, Peter got an aircraft carrier, some cute (handsome) clothes, a Nemo scrubber for baths, a couple of books, a circuit building set, magformers magnet building set, playdough, and some peanuts. Jonathan got him this Snap Circuits Jr (affiliate link) but I'm pretty sure Jonathan actually bought it for himself. I was a little hesitant at first, but it has turned out to be a great activity for them to do together. It's a set that has a base and lots of different pieces that you can fit together to make a circuit that turns on a light, or a fan or make a little alarm go off. There are a bunch of different directions that tell how to make the things work. It's pretty cool. Peter is still to young to really do it by himself, but he loves doing it with Dad.

Building circuits with Dad

I've seen a couple of friends do these little surveys with their kids each year to see how answers change and how kids grow. So, we decided to give it a go with Peter. Here's the results. 

1. What is your name? Peter, Peter Benjamin Nelson
2. How old are you? I don't know
3. When is your Birthday? It was next week...wait I already had my birthday
4. What is your favorite color? Green and Orange
5. What is your favorite food? Dough that's not cooked
6. Who's your best friend? Eloise 
7. What is your favorite song? (sings) We all live in a yellow submarine
8. What is your favorite animal? Triceratops
9. What are you scared of? Nothing
10. What makes you happy? you, just you (then he snuggled up to me, extra points)
11. Where's your favorite place to go? Restaurant (I asked- which one?) all of them
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? Worker- building houses
13. How tall are you? (he had Jonathan stand up and he stood up next to him) Dad is large, and so I am medium. (then he made Robin stand up next to him) Mom is like my size. You are medium. So I am medium. 
14. Who is the smartest in your family? me and dad
15. Who is the cutest in your family?  Mom
16. Who is the funniest in your family? Haha, Dad
17. What is one thing you want to learn how to do? Maybe driving
18. What does Dad do for work? Get money.
19. What does Mom do for work? You don't work! (he later clarified that I don't go to work...slightly better)
20. What is something Mom always says to you? Clean up
21. What is something Dad always says to you? Go sit in time out

Carving Pumpkins

Pumpkin Guts

We waited until Jonathan was home to carve pumpkins. Peter and Charles did quite a bit of cleaning seeds out themselves. The past couple of years we've had Peter help but he wanted nothing to do with touching the inside of the pumpkin. He did better last year. This year he did great. He got right in there to help scooping and cleaning out. 

Erica and Charles, getting the guts out!

This year Jonathan had Peter draw a face on the pumpkin and he carved exactly what Peter drew. Last year, we picked designs and then Peter chose between the ones we picked out, but this year, it was all him. We used washable markers (genius because then if you decide you want something different, or if they make a mistake, you just wash it off and start over) and Peter just went to town drawing the face.

Jonathan is the best pumpkin carver

Charles, Peter and Jonathan hard at work

It turned out pretty fantastic. Peter loved it. It lasted on our porch for about 4 days, and then Peter took it into the woods and filled it with dirt. Needless to say, it didn't last too long after that. But, for those four days, our porch was full of Halloween happiness. 

Peter and his pumpkin creation

This is Halloween, This is Halloween

Family of superheros
(Jonathan as Clark Kent holding Ezra as Robin, Peter as Batman, Robin as Supergirl)

A few months back, Peter informed me that he wanted to be Batman for Halloween. It was a cute idea, but I was sure that it would pass in a weeks time and he'd move on to a new costume idea. Buuuuut, he didn't. And I was totally okay with that, because superhero costumes are really easy to pull together, and lots of fun to be for Halloween. It took us a while to decide on which superheros everyone else was going to be (I tried to convince Peter to be Batman and me to be Robin, Jonathan be Spiderman and Ezra a little spider...be he only wanted Ezra to be Robin) but we finally settled on our superhero family for Halloween. 

Superheroes can fly!

We checked out a few Batman books from the library, and once Peter learned about sidekicks and that Batman's sidekick was Robin, he knew that Ezra was going to be his sidekick. Peter initially wanted Jonathan to be the Hulk and me to be Wonder Woman, but with a little convincing, we went with Superman and Supergirl- their costumes are much easier to pull together and less green painting. 

Batman's coming to save the day!

Jonathan's parents were here a few weeks ago, and his mom helped with much of the sewing of capes and my skirt, which was a huge help. The costumes came together great. Jonathan's was by far the easiest. He already had a superman shirt, and he just wore it under a white shirt and borrowed Peter's red tie.

Best Superman Ever. 

We had a ward Trunk-or-Treat and chili cook-off the Saturday before Halloween. Jonathan was gone all day Saturday with a group from our ward cutting trees for people who needed help from Hurricane Matthew. They have been going down the last couple of Saturdays. I'm glad he's been able to go and help other families. The group came back in time to come to the ward party. We had some delicious chili and Peter came home with a huge bucket full of candy, which he shared with Mom and Dad....because he doesn't know that other kids keep all their candy, and I plan on keeping it that way as long as I can.

Batman and Robin
These boys are the cutest. 

We also went trick or treating on Halloween in my brother's neighborhood. His family lives in a development with lots of houses and lots of families. It was fun to go around with them and let the boys go around with their cousins. Lots of homes had fun decorations and there was even a haunted house in the neighborhood. Peter collected more candy and a few glow stick bracelets. Ezra rode around in the stroller and was in a pretty good mood considering he was up way past his normal bedtime. It was a great night!

Happy baby, happy mama.

Halloween was a great success this year. We had a blast and have candy to last us a while. Peter has already decided he wants to be a chameleon next year for Halloween....I'm hoping he changes his mind on that, but if he doesn't I've got a year to figure out a costume! Happy belated Halloween!

Halloween 2015- Trick or Treat!

This year we (read- I) had a tough time deciding on what we should dress up as. I really wanted some kind of costume idea for the family that incorporated Jonathan's beard. We tossed around the idea of a lumberjack family, How to Train Your Dragons cast, Bob Ross and trees, and pirates. But we couldn't settle on any of those. Then, we thought about being robots or dinosaurs. Jonathan and I were dinosaurs many years ago, so I would only have to make a costume for Peter...so that was sounding good. But then Jonathan said we should be robots because we have heaps of boxes from moving and then Peter could help make his own costume- which was a fantastic idea and I was totally behind that. But then it just wasn't happening and wasn't happening, and Halloween was getting closer and closer. 

Then, about a week before Halloween, Jonathan sent me a picture of a guy dressed up as Yukon Cornelius, the miner from the old Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie. As soon as I saw the Yukon picture, I knew we had to be part of the cast from that movie. Yukon has a great beard. I googled the cast and decided the easiest/most known characters, aside from Yukon, who Jonathan had to be, would be Rudolph, Bumble the Abominable Snowman, or Hermey the Elf who wanted to be a dentist. I didn't narrow it down any more until I found what clothing items we had or could be easily acquired from friends or the thrift store. 

I sent out a quick email to some friends in the area asking for specific colored pants, hat, jacket, etc. I got a response back pretty quick from a friend who had most of what we needed. For the rest, Peter and I ran to Wal-Mart for some felt, then to the thrift store for white pants and shirt for me. We found everything pretty quick and all was well. Peter decided he wanted to be the reindeer (which was great because his costume was by far the easiest, and I was going to be Bumble. 

The finished products!
Robin as Bumble, Peter as Rudolph, and Jonathan as Yukon.

Peter's costume: a pair of brown pants (a size too small, so they were high-waters, but whatever), brown shirt, and the giraffe headband I made for my costume last year, and I just cut the nubs smaller. Red lipstick on his nose. We owned everything for his costume, and it was the fastest to assemble.

Robin's costume: white pants and pajama sweater from thrift store (basically I chose the ones that at least semi-fit,trying to find non-maternity things that fit was near impossible, I think I tried on at least ten pairs of white pants.) We made the hat from cardboard, twine, felt and left over pieces of furry white from Peter's panda costume from last year. Jonathan engineered most of the hat/face, and did a great job. It looks better in pictures, and the glue gun saved the day on that part of the costume.

Jonathan's costume: borrowed red beanie, and used a safety pin to hook a red pom pom on the top. He covered a pair of black earmuffs in white fuzzy material. He made his ax by using cardboard and aluminum foil with a hammer as the base and made the belt buckle out of foil and cardboard. All of his clothing and backpack he already owned. He even thought to stuff the backpack with pillows to make it look full. He's pretty much genius level at making costumes.  

Our living room post costume making. 

Yukon and Rudolph, just hanging out. 

I learned a couple of things from our costume making- first, never wait until Halloween to make your costume...rookie mistake. Second- Jonathan is excellent at engineering things to work and have a good structure, and I can sew/design the outside look...so basically we are unstoppable. Third- Peter is a good helper, and sometimes makes things harder, but is still fun to have around when we make things.

Costumes were finished around 6pm, which was perfect timing for us to set out and gather some candy. We explained to Peter how it worked, and he did great. He would go up to every door, hit it with his bucket and yell, "Trick or treating!" Haha, I think by the end he got "trick or treat" down. Everyone thought he was adorable...because he is, and they loved that we all dressed up. I think most people knew who we were. Peter wasn't scared by any of the decorations or costumes we saw. Although the below house had a pirate skeleton sitting in a corner of their front porch with a sword sticking out of him. Peter said, "Oh no! Skeleton...pirate skeleton. He hurt. Oh no. He sad." He wasn't scared of him, but he did want to help the skeleton. He also would ask almost everyone who answered the door if they had a dog, and then proceed to tell them about our dog (our upstairs neighbor's dog). I'm pretty sure he liked chatting with everyone more than he liked getting candy.

Peter and Robin and the pirate house

We learned that we have a fantastic neighborhood for trick or treat. There was only one house with no one home. There were a few who left candy buckets on their porch. But almost everyone was home handing out candy. We live in a neighborhood with lots of empty nesters, and they were all in love with Peter. Also, you know how as a kid you would always spread the word, "Go to Mr Smith's house on the corner. He's giving out full sized candy bars!" Well, we had at least 4 houses giving out full sized candy bars. Candy for weeks! Peter did great at only taking one piece- although many times the people encouraged him to take a few more, apparently the neighborhood doesn't get a ton of kids, so they all were trying to give it away. Also, there was one house who had a candy bucket with candy and one dollar bills and they let kids pick if they wanted to get candy or money. HA! Peter picked candy...because that is a lot more appealing to a small one than a green and white piece of paper. Although if the choice had been between candy and pennies...he might have picked a penny. He likes the little coins.

There was a cool sunset, but we could either capture faces or sunset...not both.
So here are our cute faces!

We had a great Halloween night. Peter had a blast running to all the houses and looking at their decorations. His favorite adjective for things was "spooky". "Oooo mom, that man spooky." It was fun. We wore him out and got a ton of candy- we still have half a bucket and we only went around a small part of our neighborhood. We also learned where more people we see at church live, which was nice. Happy Belated Halloween, I hope everyone else had a great time!

Pumpkin Carving

A few days before Halloween, we set aside some time to carve our giant pumpkin. Last year, Peter wanted nothing to do with getting his hands dirty with pulling out the pumpkin guts. This year was more of the same. He helped a bit in the very beginning, but was very quickly done with touching the seeds or stringy insides.

Peter helping Jonathan get some of the pumpkin guts out.

After prepping the pumpkin, we looked at some pictures until we found a pumpkin idea we liked. Peter really wanted a sad pumpkin...I'm not sure why. But we convinced him to have a happy/silly face instead. I was in charge of drawing the face on the pumpkin and then Jonathan carved the face.

Robin, pumpkin artist.

Jonathan, pumpkin carver, with Peter, self-appointed photographer.

Peter has recently learned how to take pictures on our phones. Jonathan's phone has hundreds of photos of Peter's feet, close-ups of the ground, random toys, and blurry arms/legs/faces of anyone nearby. It's pretty fantastic. He was all about taking pictures the whole night. Here are two of the clearer ones-

Almost artistic

There were at least 20 of these close-ups

Jonathan finished carving our mustached pumpkin. It seemed fitting for him to make. I think it turned out pretty good. He looks happy and it was fun working on it together. 

Peter, Jonathan and mustached pumpkin

Belated Father's Day

Since the last posts were quick turn around posts, it's now time for a really belated post (and don't you worry, I have plenty more really late ones saved as drafts, just itching to become real posts)! This is what we did for Father's Day...back in June. I would laugh at how long ago that was, but I know I have posts from way longer than that still waiting in the queue. Anyway, here it is.

About a week before Father's Day, I started asking Jonathan what he wanted to eat for dinner and dessert on his day. Turns out, he doesn't really have a favorite dinner, or dessert...so he didn't know and didn't know and didn't know. One of the hard things for me in cooking special dinners for this husband of mine is that he usually wants to have a meat dish. I on the other hand, don't love tons of meat, so I usually don't cook it, so I feel inadequate in making steak, or burgers, or any manly meaty dinner. So, naturally, Jonathan wanted bacon burgers for dinner. I told him I'd buy everything if he made the burgers. He was more than happy to make them, and I was happy that he was happy, so everyone won. 

Washing Dishes and Making Bacon!

I've learned there are few things that I love more than my boys working in the kitchen with me. It's just more fun to make food together, even if it does mean it's a little messier and, with Peter, more chaotic. So this day was fun. Peter "washed" dishes for a good 20 minutes. And by wash I mean used the rag to splash around and soak his body- but hey, it's a start.Jonathan did the meats, and I put together dessert.

Look at that focus.

For dessert, I made cream cheese fruit bars. They were good, but way sweet. Even as I was following the recipe I remember being nervous about the amount of sugar it called for. Also, it called for 2 cans of fruit filling, while one would have been enough. I don't know if China made this happen, but there are so many desserts I've made since being back that I think would be way better if they used less sugar. But anyway, not a terrible loss, but I wouldn't make them again. 

Dessert prep and pan of fries waiting to go in the oven

Dessert! (Don't worry, his beard is not touching it. It's just the angle.)

Dinner turned out fantastic, and we ate happy. I just asked Jonathan if he remembers what we got him for Father's Day, and neither of us could remember...whoops. But he asked what we did and I showed him the above pictures, and he said, "Oh yeah, those burgers were soooo good. I remember that. Wait, we still have bacon in the freezer from that don't we? We should make that again." Haha, so the burgers were a total success, and we had a great day in the kitchen together. 

Now let's get a little sappy. I just want to say a few things I love about Jonathan as a Dad. 

Jonathan is great at teaching Peter things- especially things he loves, like the outdoors and tools. He is pretty patient when doing projects with Peter. On Saturday, he took Peter outside to help him work on the car (putting in a new wheel-well cover/fender liner). Do you know how helpful a small child is when doing car repair? Not terribly helpful. Jonathan would have done it faster if he'd left Peter inside. But he was fine with it taking longer and showing Peter some car things along the way. Also, with swimming. Jonathan will go in the pool with Peter and work on putting his face in the water, blowing bubbles and kicking. He is way more patient in the pool than I am (and he knows what he's doing), and they will play/learn for a loooong time before either one is bored. 

Jonathan is great at giving me a break and helping with Peter. Since becoming pregnant, Jonathan gets up with Peter every single morning, without fail, and lets me sleep in until he has to leave for work. It's beautiful. Peter wakes up and comes into our room, usually asking for "cereal and milk?" and Jonathan gets out of bed, and feeds Peter, and then keeps him occupied until he goes to work. At which point I usually convince Peter to crawl into bed and warm up and he talks/plays while I lay quietly until Peter gets too bored and we get up. I know I won't have too many more of these sleeping-in mornings, so I cherish them and am so grateful that Jonathan lets me get a little more sleep each morning.

At night, Jonathan reads books to Peter before he goes to sleep. I'm not sure how this started, but every night, we read scriptures as a family, say prayers, and then I leave and Jonathan lays down and reads a couple books with Peter. I think it's adorable, and I love that they have some quiet time together.

Jonathan plays with Peter...sometimes rougher than I like, but Peter LOVES it, and I'm pretty sure Jonathan thinks it's great too. I love it because I just don't have the energy to play around with Peter as much these days, so it's great for getting some of his massive amounts of energy out. 

Something great that Jonathan does as a dad is he reads/researches parenting things. He has read (actually listened to as audio-books) 2 books that have been on my list to read for a while- they weren't at the library and I had to wait for them to come back in. I didn't even tell him about these books. He heard about one from a guy at church, and the other one from this blog: https://www.fatherly.com/. Yeah...he follows a parenting blog of dad stuff. He'll send me links to articles he has read and finds interesting, and when he comes home (if he remembers he sent it, or if I bring it up), we'll talk about it- do we agree or disagree with the thoughts of the writer? Do we want to implement any of those ideas into our family? Etc. I'm glad he reads things and doesn't leave parenting up to me. 

Jonathan is a good dad, and we are lucky to have him. I'm grateful I married this man and that we get to raise a family together. It is fun to watch someone take on a new role and see them grow and change. Jonathan is not the perfect dad. He gets frustrated with Peter sometimes and sometimes we disagree on how we should do certain aspects of parenting. Sometimes I know he'd rather sleep in and let me take care of Peter. Sometimes he doesn't want to get hit in the face with another pillow. But even if he is not perfect, he is a perfect fit for us. He balances me and overall we work together great. He loves his boys and he will help them become great men. We love you Jonathan! 

4th of July Parade!

Provo City Parade!

We got to the parade around 8:15 am, and had an hour before the parade was going to start, but that was a great decision because the parade route was filling up fast! We found great seats though! We were right across from the Provo City Library. Also, they had a "pre-parade" which kept Peter fantastically entertained during the wait time. I really don't understand what a pre-parade is...it seemed just like a regular parade. There was a firetruck, and people giving out candy. Peter got a little Chick-fil-a stuffed cow and a fire hat. He learned to wave to all the people, and almost learned how to go grab candy- he was a little hesitant about getting it, but loved eating it.  

Fire Marshal Peter

 Jonathan went and got "breakfast" for us. Basically he walked down the street until he found something open- it was Subway. Sandwiches for breakfast is okay with me! (Actually, I really love Subway, and was thrilled when we found one in China, and found that it tasted just like America.) By the time he got back, we only had a little bit of time to kill before the actual parade. So, we ate and entertained Peter and then soon enough, the real parade started!

Peter loved waving at all his parade friends.

Leading the band with Lisa and Louis!

Peter most loved the high school marching bands (there were 12 total, and Peter loved them all), the ponies, the police motorcycles and the firetrucks. There were also military vehicles for all of the big wars, the Provo and Orem missionaries, a couple of parade balloons, floats for Ms. Provo (and tons of other nearby cities, cars for the mayor and governor, BYU and UVU had groups, storm troopers, theatre groups, and a bunch of other businesses. It was pretty fantastic. One of the theatre groups had everyone in costumes- princesses, Aladdin, Peter Pan, the cast of Wizard of Oz, the cast of Mary Poppins, and so many more. That was fun to see!

WWII half track

 Our friend Louis and Lisa came to the parade and sat with us for the last half of the parade. They are getting married this weekend, and we won't be able to come to their wedding, so it was great to get to spend some time with them on the 4th. They always try to get Peter to love them- and when he was a baby, that was a cinch, but now that he is older, he is not always willing to go to anyone. But, they sure try! They are great with him, and he had a fun time watching the parade with them. He got one fingernail painted red by Lisa, some candy, and lots of tickles and snuggles.

Enjoying the parade with Uncle Louis

The bands were his favorite. He would dance to the music.

Making friends with the neighbors.

Peter is in a phase right now where he wants to be friends with people, all people, regardless of their feelings toward him. He will say hi to any kid that he sees and wants to know their name. He constantly says, "What's that name?" (we're working on changing that to What's his/her name?) When Peter was dancing to one of the bands, this man with the green umbrella caught his attention. The man started leading the music with his umbrella- up and down, up and down. And Peter started to copy him- his little hand began to go up and down. So then the man moved his hand left to right, left to right. And Peter moved his hand in the same way. Then the man twisted his hand, and Peter twisted his hand. It was great. Then Peter asked, "What's your name?" The guy said, "I'm Mark. What's your name?" And Peter said, "I'm Peter." And then Peter just stood there and watched the guy for a good minute without saying anything. Kids are so awkward, and so fantastic.

We had a great time at the parade. Peter made some friends and saw some cool things. We got to see our friends, and eat some great sandwiches. We got to have one last hurrah in Provo on the 4th of July. Maybe we'll be here next year, and give it another time, but in case we are gone, I'll know we had a great 4th of July this year.

After the parade, we visited our friends, Crystal and Ben and their boys Marshal and Noah (Noah was just a couple weeks old, and these guys lived in Nanjing with us). Peter and Marshal are the same age and they play great together. I got to hold baby Noah and be reminded how small babies start out. This family is moving to California at the end of the month, so I'm really glad we got to see them before they move.

 Then, we headed to Aunt Jean's house, and ate lunch while we visited with Jean and Arlean. These two ladies are some of my favorite sisters to be with. They have so many amazing stories and are so much fun to be around.

Then, we had one last visit with Lisa and Louis before heading back to Bountiful. After they get married, they are headed to Philadelphia, so again, it was great that we got to spend so much time with them before they head east. Everyone is going a million places.  I was glad we got to see so many of our friends while we were down there. It made for a really long day, but it was worth it.

The 4th of July was fantastic. We had a blast!

Hot Air Balloons!

We started the 4th of July really early. Jonathan and I were up by 5:15am with the goal of leaving the house by 5:30. We left by 5:40, so we were off to a good start. We left so early because I really wanted to see the Balloon Festival in Provo. I had seen so many fun pictures of my Provo friends at the Balloon Festival where about 20 hot air balloons get inflated in a big field and then take off and do some air games (dropping bean bags on targets and jousting regular balloons- not other hot air balloons), and then they all go for a float around the valley. I saw so many cool pictures, and since we don't know if we will be in Utah next year, I really really wanted to take advantage of our proximity and head down to Provo. Also, I wanted to have at least one more time at the parade in Provo. Provo does an extremely good job celebrating the 4th of July, and I wanted one more go with this city I'd grown to love and now miss. 

Peter slept like a champ the whole way down and we got to the field before any of the balloons started inflating! I was super excited to be there and see the balloons, and I knew Peter would love it once everything got started. 

Starting to inflate the balloons 

 One of the coolest things was that you could walk among the balloons in the field. We thought we would be sitting on the sidelines of the action, but in reality we were right in the middle of everything. We just roamed around as all the balloons were growing and inflating.

Balloons are growing!

Peter was mesmerized. 

Demonstration of the burner!

 We learned that the balloons were a little late going up due to winds and possible rain coming. As a spectator, it didn't seem like there was that much wind, but we figured these guys do this way more than we do, so they should probably be the ones to make all the decisions. It was amazing to walk among all the balloons as they were inflating. There were so many colors dancing in the sky. It was neat too to watch them go from flat on the ground to towering above our heads.

I said, "Peter, look at mom! Smile!"
All he would give me is this crazy side eye smile.

Watching all the balloons

So many balloons, so colorful!

 After all the balloons had inflated, the official call was made that no balloons would be taking off that day. There were storms threatening and it just wouldn't be safe for the aeronauts. So, we didn't get to see them take off into the clouds, but that was okay. It was still super fantastic to see them on the ground inflated. And, since Peter didn't know any better, he thought the inflated balloons were super cool, and he didn't care if they flew or not. Balloon mission was a success! After the balloons, we headed for University Ave to claim a spot for parade!

Peter, Jonathan and Robin with all the balloons

Fireworks!

I'm going to skip a bunch of fun things we've done lately, and talk about the fourth of July and then work backwards! I have been really excited for this holiday coming up. Last year, we were in Taiwan for July 4th and we celebrated by eating dinner at TGI Fridays. Even though it was a great adventure, I missed celebrating the 4th with parades and fireworks. It was exciting this year to be in America to celebrate. Our fourth of July was a little backwards. All the cities around us had their fireworks on the night of July 3rd, so we rolled with it. Jonathan's boss sent a text out claiming the best place for fireworks was a golf course in North Salt Lake. At first, we weren't going to do fireworks and Jonathan and Peter were just going to camp out in the backyard...but we quickly learned he was not about to go to sleep because it was too new and exciting, so we scrapped that idea, piled into the car and headed to the golf course about 15 minutes before the fireworks started. 

About a mile and a half from the golf course, traffic slowed to a creep and cars lined the streets, parking anywhere there was space. We quickly realized we had passed any possible parking space. We decided as we drove along at a snail's pace that the best plan would be for Jonathan to drop Peter and I off at the golf course, find a parking space, and then meet up with us. But, I'd left my phone at home, so I was worried that if we were dropped off, we would never find Jonathan again in the dark. But, then we saw a big RV parked on the side of the road, and we figured that if Peter and I stayed in close proximity to said RV, then Jonathan could use that as a marker to find us. So, Peter and I jumped out, Jonathan drove on to find parking (hopefully close), and Peter and I went to find a place to sit and watch the fireworks.

Less than 5 minutes after we sat down, the fireworks show began! Jonathan had not made it to us yet, so I was hoping he'd get there soon and at least get to watch most of the fireworks. Peter was in awe with the first firework, and then a bunch went off at once, and he buried his head into my body and clung to me like a baby monkey. He was shaking. So, I talked really quiet to him, and reminded him that it was loud, but the sound wouldn't hurt him, but if he looked in the sky, he would see the pretty colors of he fireworks. It only took him another moment before he was looking up at the sky again. He still held on to me, but his grip loosened as the show went on. He wouldn't leave my lap, but by the time we were about half way through he was back to being excited and happy. He liked the "sparkly ones" and the ones that burst into a ring shape. Even the grand finale at the end didn't scare him. It was a pretty fantastic show. There was good variety of explosions and lots of good colors. Also, the golf course was the perfect place, there was so much room that I didn't feel like I had to squeeze in to find a place to sit. There was lots of empty space around all the groups of people, and tons of places to sit to have a great view.

Meanwhile, no sign of Jonathan...for the entire show, he didn't show up. The fireworks ended, and people started getting up to leave. I stood up with Peter and we just kinda stood there for a bit as I tried to decide what to do. I knew the direction Jonathan had headed towards, but what if he had turned down a side road, or what if we passed each other among all the other people, and I didn't have a way to get in touch with him. Looking back, I should have just borrowed someone's phone, but I didn't think of it then. Luckily, less than 5 minutes after the fireworks ended, I saw Jonathan walking towards us! Success! I told him I was sorry he missed all the fireworks due to parking the car, but it turns out, he saw the entire show as he was walking from the car to the golf course! They picked a great location for the fireworks and the fireworks were visible for quite a ways. So, we got Peter in the stroller and started on the loooooong walk back to the car. I would guess we walked for about 20 minutes to get to the car. But it was nice and cool, and Peter was in a great mood, so it wasn't bad. By the time we got there, the road was pretty cleared out. It was slow traffic for a bit, but once we got passed a roundabout, it was quick going home.

Peter fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep from the car to his bed! He slept through the night, but it was a short night because the next morning, we left the house around 5:40am so we could go down to Provo to have some 4th of July fun down there. Stay tuned for part 2 of Independence Day!