4th Continued

Yeah...I said I would finish this like 5 days ago so here you go...

Before we headed back to the farm on the 3rd we stopped at my aunt and uncles lake because it was Ben's second cousin's 1st birthday party.  Ben got to hang out with so many other babies over the weekend!  His dad is my cousin Greg, who is a few months younger than me. 

Here is a not very good picture of the two of us as babies.  I love my name sweatshirt!
Grayson is a big boy now and it is hard to imagine Ben becoming like that in a few short months! I hadn't seen him since he was younger than Ben is now. He walks and has a mouth full of teeth and can feed himself.  The baby months really fly by. 

The party was an Elmo theme if you couldn't tell! 

We tried to get some party hat pictures.  It went a bit better than that time I tried to take pictures of Allan wearing a mini party hat but not much better!

Ben's hat stayed on for about 2 seconds after that hand was removed...good thing I have a fast camera!

With Great Grandpa Glenn and Great Grandma Dorothy.

After this we were off to the farm and, since we had plans to go to a street dance that night, Ben was off to his first non-family babysitter for the night!  She is a middle school age daughter of family friends who I have known since she was a baby.  I remmeber her coming swimming at the pool when I was lifeguarding as a little toddler in the baby pool so it is strange that she is now the babysitter and I am not the baby sitter...I am the mom!  All of these things have taken some getting used to...

I was kind of worried, not about Ashley's (the babysitter) competence but because Ben had decided that he didn't want to drink from a bottle over the prior few days.  But everything was fine and around 11 p.m. I got word that he was sleeping and then it was time to relax for real!  The night was problem free and I had a great time catching up with old friends from high school.  I was talking the whole night and hardly had time to drink and take shots with my sister and cousins which is probably a good thing!

I forgot to mention that the weekend and days before the 4th were ungodly hot, as I'm sure many of you experienced and we kept waiting for the inevitable break in the humidity in the form of heavy rain and violent weather.  At the lake on Monday night there was a lighting storm that looked like strobe lights but no heavy rain.  It came on the morning of the 4th during the parade in Hatton! 

Here we are with Grandpa Tim, hiding under the front porch of the Masonic Lodge turned preschool.  Grandpa Tim looks worried but he was actually happy about the rain because of the farm!  Everyone was happy!  And it didn't last long.  The sun came out and the parade went on. 

Ben got to see Great Grandma Phyllis and his Great Great Aunt Joy again on the 4th and seems happy about it!

After lunch we headed to the rednecky, class B-ish event that I love (once a year...I know some people attend these events many times every summer and there is a "circuit" that some people follow like any other automotive racing type activity but once a summer is enough for me).  It was Demo Derby time!  This day is such a deviation from every day life.  On any given week day that the 4th lands on you sit in a pickup or on the roof of a bus or on a trailer and drink in the middle of they day and watch old cars from the 70s and 80s smash each other until only one is left running. 

This year there was a bit of a problem...right after the event started, in the second heat, the action was stopped because of an emergency...not with one of the cars but elsewhere in town.  The required rescue truck had to leave and attend to the other emergency (it turned out to be a minor injury when a teenager had an accident with an ATV/golf cart Ranger vehicles).  Another amublance had to come from a nearby town to be on hand for the derby which was nice of them.  This lead to about a 45 minute break in the action which gave time for more drinking which I don't think anyone minded, especially after word was out that it wasn't a serious emergency. 

Bad choice on the black shirt Mother!  It was hot out there!

Andrea with our favorite lemon and sugar infused hot weather vodka drink.  Yummmm...so refreshing!  I want some right now seriously!   You fill that container with lemons sliced in half or in fourths, a bunch of sugar and vodka.  Then you shake it violently for 20 minutes.  Taking turns shaking is necessary!  At the end of 20 minutes you have a delicious summer drink that I highly recommend. 
So that was that...I can't even think of who won the derby.  There was also a drawing for $10,000 and I have no idea who won that either (I know who won, but I didn't know them). 

Then it was buzzkill time...everyone had to leave right away because the 5th was a workday.  It was hard to leave and we didn't get home until late but we did arrive home just in time to see the Bismarck fireworks display which we can see clearly from our house.  Well, we could see it if the house across the street didn't have a huge tree in the front yard.  But we could see it pretty well with the neigbors in their driveway. 
Sigh...until next year, 4th...I look forward to it already because it won't be in the middle of the week!
Oh, I should add that Ben did not attend the derby in case anyone is questioning my parenting!  He stayed with my brother's girlfriend and she took him to visit her baby loving parents who live about 15 miles from the farm.  Lots of kids attend but it is definitely not a place for little babies.  Too hot, too loud, and too many flying clods of dirt and fire hose showers sprayed at the crowd.