The Parties Continue

To finish up our Independence Day weekend on Saturday we journeyed out to our Uncle Eric and Aunt Marilyn's house for the annual Independence Day family get together. The food at this party is always top notch as Eric cooks up a mountain of ribs and the side dishes are always great. Mom's green bean casserole is always a big hit as well.

This year's party is different than past parties because of the large amount of babies in attendance. If you count Alyce there were four babies in total. The other kids were Andy, Jack, and Rex. Andy is just about Alyce's age and took all of our attention to keep the two of them from walking all over creation. Jack and Rex are still pretty young and while they are able to crawl and cruise along they aren't yet able to make a decent attempt at getting away from their parents. I think next year will be the year that the kids can separate from the parents and start to do kid stuff on their own.

The evening culminated in yet another fireworks show. Mom, Alyce, and I all sat down by the lake to get a good look at the show. I think Alyce was just about tuckered out as she relaxed in my lap for the entire show. Alyce must have picked up on some social cues over the past two nights because this time during a good firework she let out some audible "oohs" and "aahs" plus she clapped for some of the fireworks. After the show it was getting late and it was time to go. Alyce was up past her bedtime for the 3rd night in a row.

I have to give her a lot of credit, she handled the changes to her routine very well with only a few minor issues here and there. In all the weekend was a big success. The family had fun and Alyce behaved herself as much as you can expect a 20 month to behave.