For the past four years we have hit the road and gone to Fresno to visit some of our very best pals, Dan & Lisa. (Check out last years adventure here!) They are both professors at the university down there and have two really awesome kids. Wolfie adores them (Ben and Emmy are much older than him and he calls them his “cousins”). One of my favorite parts is how the whole neighborhood gets involved on the Fourth of July—there is a kid’s parade, bouncey house, and of course fireworks and sparklers at night. This year it was INSANELY hot. Like 103 degrees hot. Like, “I’m a big ol sweaty ball” hot. We had to modify our plans a little, but it was still lots of fun. Here are some pictures of our little weekend:

THE PARK

They have an excellent park at the end of the cul de sac….it’s huge and grassy. Wolfie was too nervous to go down the crazy water slide but he eagerly took a sno-cone! (breaking his “i hate sugar” rule)

Like I said, it was 103 degrees this year. And friends, that kinda weather is reeeeeeeally uncomfortable. Note Wolfie’s red cheekies.

Wolfie’s cousin Ben (in the blue tee) is awesome….here he is with his best pal Braden manning the sno cone machine. They are that rare breed of 14 year old. Cool skater boys who get along really well with their peers, but are also totally comfortable hanging with the adults. A miracle!

Here’s Wolfie with Emmy, Ben’s sister. Emmy is terrific—she is a Pokemon expert, an aspiring actress (she landed a featured role in the local theater summer play) and is officially Wolfie’s guru on things anime. He thinks she’s really cool.

GETTING READY FOR THE PARADE.

All the kiddos decorate their trikes, bikes and scooters in full RWB regalia!

Little Alastair is a big sweetie—and clearly had the Fourth of July spirit goin’ on!

Hee. Go Al!

I don’t know this kid, but I like his style!

This was last year—the little girl in her pink Barbie convertible is always a highlight for me every summer. Alas, she wasn’t here this year! But I had to give her a nod…

Our neighborhood doesn’t really have sidewalks, so we’ve been slow on the bike riding dealie with Wolfie. He finally got a little cruiser with training wheels and he was totally into it! The training wheels have that wibble wobble thing where the bike suddenly leans to one side, making Wolfie shriek (in a manly way) and totally reminded me of being a kid….remember how the training wheels would bobble and you thought for SURE you were gonna wipe out?

Crazy Greg entertained the little troops with his mylar dancin’….

But ultimately folks, I was sweatin’ my booty off. We realized that the parade was not going to be much fun and decided it was time to put Plan B into effect.

PLAN B: THE POOL.

A

Ahhhhhh. That was more like it.

Little Eloise won Best Haircut! (or Hair Cute, as I like to say!)

That little girlie is pretty darn cute no??

We BBQ-ed, we lounged, we laughed. It was awesome. Thanks Dan & Lisa for another awesome year!

Because the Fourth fell on a Monday, we had to hit the road home that evening. Slightly sun-kissed and exhausted, we eagerly looked to the horizon for more fireworks.