4th of July
This year was a whole different beast with our 14 month old little man! When we got home Thursday night from dinner (Mike was at work), the lighting was just perfect, so I put Patrick in his 4th of July outfit and we headed outside with Scoots to take a few festive pics for the holiday.
I do want you to make note that for these few good shots I got, I have TEN TIMES as many blurry, not looking, running away from me pics that filled up my camera. It was soooooo hard to get some decent pics of Patrick (or both Patrick and Scooter) without any other adult help. This is why I make sure when I do family/little kid photo shoots that there are extra "smile inducers" there to help me.
Isn't he just too much?!! I know, I know, I'm biased, but come on, don't those big brown eyes just kill you?!! They sure do me. This kid is going to get whatever he wants out of me.
Anyways, we started the 4th of July with a little 4th tribute Scooter style: Scooter came up with this rockin' Beggin' Strips fireworks picture he just HAD to share.
It turned out to be quite the hit, and Beggin' posted it on in all of their social media pages. Way to go Scoots. Someone even commented on Facebook that the flag look "strategically placed." Um, DUH. Scooter doesn't want his man-parts plastered all over the Internet if he can help it! Helllllllooooo modesty! I know the Duggars would be proud of him.
I should mention that this was the first 4th of July since 1997 that Mike had off. Yeah, crazy, right?!! He's ALWAYS had to work, and more times than not we've had to miss the fireworks (as a family) or improvise and go another night. Well, this year he had the whole day off, so we were going to make the most out of it! Here's a cute little pic of him working the Fair St. Louis detail though...so strange: he had to work July 3rd and 5th, but was off the 4th! Schedule screw up maybe?!! Whatever! I'll take it!
We started off the day by hitting up the pool--which, despite it being JULY, it was a bit frigid! We've been having some unseasonably cooler-not-very-humid-weather in STL lately (and this is NOT me complaining--I'm loving it!!), so the pool was a bit chilly! But we went anyways, and shocker, I didn't take any pics (I left my underwater camera in my bag! Drats!!). But we had a great time and Patrick got worn out. Dude then took a 3.5 hour nap.
When Patrick got up from his nap we went over to the nursing home to visit his great grandma Goose, who's temporarily staying there, and Patrick was just looking ah-dorable again in his matching outfit and beret hat. Seriously. I die of cuteness.
We then hauled it home to BBQ--Mike made himself gourmet hot dogs and me garlic shrimp skewers and scarfed down our food in record time so we could head up to the park for fireworks.
Okay, let me add something about the Mooneys--that I have very much adopted since becoming one myself--the biggest problem, no matter where we go, is always parking. Not kidding. Ask Mike, or his dad, or any of his family: parking is the number one concern and issue wherever we go. So, with the fireworks being at the local park, and parking being way limited there and on the streets surrounding it (and then knowing how crazyyyyy it gets after the fireworks with everyone hauling it outta there at the same time), we elected to walk the 2 miles from our house to the park. This actually was awesome--Mike and I got some good chat time in (which seems like lately we're so busy that we never have time to just "talk") and Patrick loved getting to cruise in his stroller up to the park.
Once we got to the park, around 8:15pm--yes, Patrick's bedtime...we elected to let him stay up extra late for this special occasion to see the fireworks!--we met Mike's parents and then they proceeded to take turns chasing Patrick around the parking lot for an hour. I think both Grandma and Grandpa and Patrick enjoyed that.
I should mention this is not Patrick's 1st fireworks show: back in December we took him to the "make up fireworks" from 2013's 4th of July (it was so dry last July that they were canceled and postponed until the winter)--he LOVED them then. Totally mesmerized and fixated on them. So, we had high hopes that he'd feel the same about these ones 7 months later.
Then, the park lights went out, the National Anthem played, and the fireworks started! Oh my goodness. I cannot properly put into words how cute and heart-exploding-feeling it made me feel to have Patrick cuddled around my neck, completely mesmerized on the fireworks. It was the greatest feeling in the world watching the fireworks, but also watching the wonder and awe and pure joy in my son's eyes while he watched them. Happy mama moment right there.
I then handed Patrick over to Mike, so he could get some Patrick-fireworks-lovin' in as well. How cute are they?!! Again, heart-melting-happy-mama moment.
Once the fireworks were over, we packed up our stuff, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, and headed back home. I am sooooo glad we walked and didn't drive. Yes, it took us 30 minutes to walk home, but we literally got home the exact same time our neighbors did--who drove. So, good call on that one Mike Mooney.
Patrick fell asleep about 3 seconds after we laid him down, and the little dude slept till 9:30am this morning! Yahooooooo! Happy boy this morning after the late night and fireworks last night!
And, I had to add these too...this kid's facial expressions KILL ME. Shoot, what about him doesn't kill me?!!
I should mention that Scooter HATES fireworks. Unless they're the bacony-edible kind, he does NOT like them. Poor little fella spent most of the 4th in his Thundershirt, and then has proceeded to sleep off his anxiety all of today, with his trusty buddy Catbed.
All in all we had a fantastic 4th of July, and love sharing these holidays with our little guy so much! He makes each day better than the last, and makes us look forward to the future even more! And I'll leave you with a cute little nautical-themed-overall-hammy-pic of my main man for you. Enjoy.
