Happy Fourth of July!

After a long few days of unpacking and organizing, we were ready to welcome our first houseguests for the Fourth of July holiday!  (My mom is an honorary member of our nuclear family at this point, so she doesn't count as a guest.)  My dad and Layne and Alex flew in last Wednesday to spend a few days with us.  Lucky for them, my mom had whipped the house into shape so they had beds for sleeping and towels for washing and plates for eating.

Our new neighborhood does a big Fourth party with a bike decorating contest and parade for the kids followed by a potluck cookout.  Dan and Ben just wanted to watch the parade instead of participating, which was fine with me since I'm not exactly a crafty person in the best of times, let alone four days after moving across the country.  So we walked down the block and watched all the kids on their fancy bikes and wagons.  Then we walked over to the pool/basketball court/playground area and played some games and ate some hot dogs.  Fireworks are banned here (due to drought and wildfire) so nobody had any sparklers or anything, but we still had a good time.

Lauren and Jesse came over that afternoon so we had the whole family here for a cookout.  Zach manned the grill and the rest of us played badminton and threw the football around and held Hannah in the shade.  Dan thought it was especially hilarious to watch the grown-ups try (and fail) to hit the birdie, especially as the sun was setting.  We had a great day, even if we didn't stay up late enough for the city fireworks.  Maybe next year....