Independence



In full disclosure, this is not from today.
Adorable patriotism has no time stamp.



I think that most of our summer days could be marked as a celebration of Independence Day.  The most frequently used phrase in our house is "I do it!"  The girls are remarkably proficient at things like putting on their own shoes, putting their laundry down the chute and climbing into their high chairs.  One of these things is more nerve-wracking than the others.

Things have been delightfully busy here.  I went to New York City this weekend with four other girls from college. The men all stayed home with kid duty and the ladies celebrated our independence around a very hot city for four days and it was wonderful.  I didn't take a single useful photo.  But I did eat dim sum, take in a drag show, ride the Staten Islad ferry, march around much of Central Park and go to the top of Rockefeller Center.  It was amazing and overwhelming and hot.  I'll get some of the other girls to send pictures that I can post here.



Also not from today.



We celebrated the fourth at Nat and Amanda's today.  Their neighborhood has the most adorable block of celebration ever.  They gather in front yards, chat, play games, have their own parade with neighborhood musicians and kids on spangled bicycles.  They had the Rocket Car doing loops around the block.  Naomi loved the ride with Daddy, but Lillian panicked at the last second so she and I just waved from the sidewalk.  We of course missed the actual parade due to naps but went back in the evening for grilled meat,  baby pools and sparklers and popsicles.  Perfection.

To conclude our celebration of independence, I shall free myself from any theme or narration for the rest of this post.  Here are some random pictures.







Nana learned the recipe to make your own face paint. 




If you go back to, i think, October of 2010, you'll see a picture of two much smaller versions of these people on this bench.




We saw butterlies at Stan Hywet.  I love this picture.



This one, too.