Day started off rough as I was bummed that we had no specific plans. We spend too many days when the girls are home just hanging around the apartment and I think Clara is more than old enough now to get excited about holidays. There were no kids events at the local park that often has holiday stuff (e.g. they had an Easter egg hunt in April). We weren't sure if fireworks would work out as they don't start until 9:30pm and the girls are usually asleep by 8:30 at the latest. We had invited some friends to visit but it fell through. Etc.
But then I decided if nothing else we could at least do our own family picnic. Both Jack and I were off work, which is rare. So I ran to Safeway and got gluten free Kettle chips, hot dogs, and nectarines. We already had gluten free strawberry ice cream at home. We got the girls dressed (in red and blue, of course) and went to the rose garden in McKinley park.
Jane kept asking me to fix her sunglasses and then immediately pulling them back down.
We got there before 11am, meaning it was not even hot out yet, actually quite nice. We sat in the shade of one of the giant palm trees and enjoyed the food. I even bought $1 plates and napkins with American flags on them.
When the girls were done eating, they started running around the garden chasing each other or Jack or having him chase them. There was almost no one else there except, we later learned, the all-volunteer gardeners who keep the roses blooming. So there was plenty of space for the girls to run around, and Jack was good sport keeping up with them. In my 8th month of pregnancy, I'm not doing a lot of running. I was happy to just watch over our picnic supplies.
L: watching trash truck; R: back to eating ice cream cone with a spoon
We took the girls home and Jane went down for a nap pretty easily. I took the opportunity to nap too while Jack half dozed on the couch and Clara watched DinoTrucks (or something) on Netflix. Once I woke up (not long after Jane), Jack took a turn taking a real nap and I hung out with the girls while we watched Super Simple Songs and ate more of the picnic food. We also danced a bit, per Jane's request, which was pretty sweet. Actually I kind of stood in one spot snapping my fingers and the girls ran excitedly in circles around me. But that works.
After Jack woke up he went out and bought gluten free popcorn and seasoning, came home and made a huge paper shopping bag full of popcorn. Meanwhile we watched the Incredibles in the background, which is such a great movie. Jack and I were enjoying it probably at least as much as the girls.
Then we headed out again, this time to CalExpo because apparently admission is free to see their fireworks. We parked a bit away, next to a Hobby Lobby, and put the girls in the stroller to walk over to the Expo. We actually got surprisingly good spots: the fireworks are shot from a race track and while the stands were pretty fully, the actual dirt race track had more room, presumably because most people don't want to sit in the dirt. But we'd brought a blanket so it was fine. We spread out, ate our popcorn, listened to live music, and waited for the show to start.
This wait was one of the best parts of the day as Jane and Clara were so excited. I don't think they were even totally sure what they were excited about, especially not Jane, but there were so many people around and the music was so lively and everyone seemed in a good mood, so they were just dancing and stomping and, best of all, every now and then Clara would stop, pump both her fists in the air, and yell "YEEESSSS!" I started letting her know when there was less than 15 minutes until fireworks and updated her every few minutes, and her excitement only mounted.
I was pretty tired and it's increasingly difficult staying comfortable as the pregnancy winds down, but Jack sat behind me and let me lean against him and that was nice too. I also enjoyed seeing all the festive outfits of the people around us, especially the kids too little to even know what's happening, along for the ride.
By the time the fireworks actually started, Jane was pretty tired, and she laid peacefully against me in my lap for the entire fireworks show. Clara was dazzled by the fireworks, and kept pointing them out to Jack as if he might not otherwise notice.
After awhile she seemed to notice the considerable number of people taking pics and videos of the fireworks with their phones, and she asked if she could hold my phone too. I opened the camera and even though she doesn't really know how to take pictures on it, she held it up and viewed the fireworks both live and in the camera and seemed very happy about it.
Watching her and Jane, but especially Clara, get so into it was actually quite moving. She was so happy I almost felt like tearing up. In any case it was great to share the show with my family. When it was done and everyone cheered and applauded, both girls also clapped enthusiastically.
We walked out of CalExpo with the mass exodus of spectators. Jane seemed repeatedly concerned about where I was if she couldn't see me from the stroller, so after a while I just held her hand as I walked alongside them and she was fine. She and Clara pointed out dogs and tiny personal fireworks along the route, and actually just as we got to a fire station it opened up and a fire truck exited, so they got front row seats to that show, which was kind of cool. They ate more popcorn in the car as we listened to "Gloria" and waited to get out of a packed parking log, and of course they both passed out during the relatively short ride home, and stayed passed out when we put them straight to bed.
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