A Red, White, {Royal} Blue, AND Birthday Weekend

I sometimes wonder why he had to get married and have a baby both within a few days of America's birthday?  It sure makes for an exhausting start to the month of July!  Needless to say, we had a fun, but busy, 4th of July weekend!

My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews came to visit for the weekend.  Mainly for Brantley's birthday, but it was nice to celebrate the holiday with them, as well.  Our weekend was jam-packed: a Royal's game, a parade, a trip to the new Scheels, a visit to the park, birthday celebrations, and fireworks.  Oh, and then after they left, we quickly cleaned our house and prepped for Brantley's birthday party just three hours later.  But more on that to come!

The fam arrived on Thursday evening.  We ordered pizza and laid low while the boys made a mess of our house played.  Brantley and Kellen were in cousin heaven, while poor Holden was the odd man out and looks forward to when Madden is old enough to play.  The two older boys did a couple of 4th of July crafts, although my sister and I had to finish them on our own because the boys were onto bigger and better things.

On Friday morning, we spent some time at Lake Lenexa and Blackhoof Park.

Here are all 10 of us, minus Craig who was taking the picture.

On Friday afternoon, we headed to Kauffman Stadium for that night's Royal's game.  Surprisingly, this was only our second game of the season; the first was in May when it was COLD and rainy.  Friday's weather was much more desirable and actually quite cool (but still warm) for July!  We tailgated for awhile before heading in to explore the Outfield Experience.  The kids rode the carousel, we took some group photos, and then we found our seats and dined on dollar hot dogs in a delicious ballpark dinner.

Now that our boys are 1 and 3, I think the games are more challenging than ever!  Quite honestly, it was easier taking a baby!  It seemed that every time we got situated, someone needed something or Brantley had to go potty.  I spent half of the game walking the concourse with Holden and despite him fighting it big time, he finally fell asleep in the seventh inning.

Brantley made out well at the game - cotton candy, a new ball and bat (Dad's a sucker), and Dippin' Dots!  It's not like it was his birthday weekend or anything. 

The Royals won in an exciting walk-off 10th inning and we stuck around after the game for Fireworks Friday.  Always a perk of Friday games, especially the day before the 4th!  I'm not sure there's a happier feeling than fireworks on a warm, summer night.  I just love them!  Brantley, on the other hand, did not.  He told us he wanted to "take a nap" instead of watching them.  However, when later asked his favorite part of the game, he proudly exclaimed "The fireworks!"  Of course they were.....

The next day was the 4th.  We started our day of celebration at the Community Days Parade in Old Town Lenexa.

After the parade, we went to check out the new Scheels - a sporting goods store that, get this, has an entire ferris wheel inside!  At only $1 a token, we had to give it a try!  The store also has an aquarium, a play place for kids, and numerous "photo opps".  We took Brantley's photo as a KU basketball player, but it's on Craig's phone, which I don't have at the moment.

We had some lunch and went back home for naptime.  Later that evening, we had a typical 4th of July meal of burgers, hot dogs, baked potato salad, bacon-wrapped green beans, and festive mini fruit pizzas.

I attempted a few pictures of my kiddos and then Brantley and Kellen had their own 4th of July parade around our house.

Brantley opened some birthday gifts (his fave was a bubble maker that he just had to use right then and there) and then it was time for sparklers.

Brantley was okay with his first few sparklers (and I was lucky to snap some photos), but then he freaked out and decided he was done.  Craig and I were stuck doing the rest on our own!

Since we live on the outskirts of KC, we drove about five blocks north to the middle of nowhere and parked our car in hopes of seeing DeSoto's (a small town near us) firework display.  Though it wasn't as great as being right there, we could see DeSoto's plus about four other displays in the distance and it sure beat trying to fight traffic en route back home.  It was another late night, and for the second day in a row, the boys were up until about 11pm.  Whew!

And that, my friends, is what I call a good 4th of July weekend.  (Did you get enough photos?)  I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!