And for the Real Fourth...

I don't have hardly any pics LOL. At least not holidayish ones. I had a really great and relaxing day though! We had decided ahead of time to go out for a late breakfast as we had dinner reservations at 6:30 and figured we could just skip lunch so we would be nice and hungry!


When we got to IHOP, we ran into one of my LLL coleaders going in at the same time! So I got to share breakfast with a friend just by chance!


Then I went over to my friend Jenn's to swim for a bit. We always had big pool parties growing up on Independence Day, so somehow it doesn't seem like the Fourth without a dip. Orion kept going back over to the jacuzzi though...

I have no idea why since it was so hot outside already! I wish I had gotten more pool pictures of him, but of course I was with him, so my hands were wet. After we got out, he wanted to go hang at the playground. That didn't last long because I was worried about the heat, but snapped a couple cute pictures at least.
I have been into close ups lately.
Back at home. I have been wanting to get Orion a water table for a long time but haven't managed to snag one off Craigslist. Then I bought some new toy bins this month and figured I wouldn't have the money anyway. So I got smart and filled one of the big bins with water. Who needs a fancy table?! Several containers and some shells and rocks we got in Canada and he was a happy boy! He was very proud of the little tower he built and kept asking me to take a picture of it. :)
I thought this was the cutest picture of Orion in a long time. And that is saying something coming from me!

Then... dinnertime! I had decided to go to Benihana because it seemed like someplace that would be nice for my birthday but also keep Orion entertained. I mentioned it to some of my friends, and a couple other families actually decided to come! I didn't really expect anybody would because I thought everybody would be busy, so I was really happy. It was Jessica and Dane with baby Olivia, and Emily and Michael with Jakey, Sara, Seth and even their older son Morgan came. We were quite a cozy bunch around one table! They even brought me gifts, which I didn't expect at all. I was so touched! We had a great time, even though Orion was being a little monkey (as I expected).

After dinner, we met Catt and Kristin at a nearby rec center known for people doing alot of fireworks nearby. We decided to skip the major crowds of the big shows, but it was a great decision as the kids got to play on the playground, and we still saw lots of impressive illegal fireworks LOL. All in all, I nice mellow day!