Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July was a super fun and exciting day so get ready for picture overload (and this is narrowed down to my favorites).

After having breakfast at Erika and Richie's house, we headed over to Frankie's for some Go-Kart rides, bumper boats and arcade games. We let Ryan pick what he wanted to do first and of course, he picked go-karts as soon as he saw them. After some initial disappointment over not being able to ride in a black car (only the yellows were 2-seaters), he got all strapped in and announced he was going to race Richie. On your marks, get set, race...

Ryan was by far the littlest one in the cars and you couldn't even see his head over the steering wheel. I think he might have been a little scared by the sound of the car because Jay said he was pretty quiet most of the ride and held Jay's hand a lot - of course that didn't stop him from having a fit when he got off that he wanted to go again!! (Updated on 8/20: Ryan is still talking about the fact that Richie's car was blue, his was yellow and that Richie won the race)

Next, we moved over to the bumper boats. Richie, Ryan and I went on the ride and I would like to make the following points:

1. I told Richie not to spray me because I straightened my hair that morning and didn't want it to look crazy - he didn't listen.
2. I am the worst bumper boat driver ever - Ryan did much better than I did! He kept screaming "Mommy, Richie's behind you!!" lol
3. 5 minutes is a very long time to be in a bumper boat especially when you are terrible at steering and don't want to get wet.
4. Ryan does not make a good shield against water attacks (what kind of parent am I that I use my son as a shield? At least he liked getting wet)
   5. Did I mention I stink at driving a bumper boat? Even Dylan laughed at my lack of skills
   

After we enjoyed all of the outside activities, we headed inside for some games and other rides, specifically The Drop Zone. The Drop Zone is basically a free-fall/bungee jumping combination - you are pulled in a chair to the top of a beam and then dropped free-fall style and bounced thereafter like on a bungee. Ryan laughed the entire time and I think Erika probably laughed even harder just laughing at Ryan. "Eka, we need get off now??"
I think the ride operator felt sorry for us because Ryan once again threw a fit that he didn't want to get off so he let Erika and Ryan go again - I think that Ryan would have stayed bouncing all day if we let him. After a few hours at Frankie's, we headed back to the house to try to get naps in before the ball game since we knew it was going to be a long night. When everyone woke up, we headed over to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to watch the USA vs. Guatemala minor league baseball teams play (we won 18-1!!). The athletic park is terrific - it is totally geared towards families (we were even able to bring the stroller in) and there are a lot of things for kids to do inside besides watch the game. When we entered the stadium, we were greeted by the Bull's mascot, Wool E. Bull and Ryan got very shy and didn't want to go near him. Later on, he told me that he wanted to meet "Wooly Bully" and he wouldn't be shy so I took him down to the store where Wooly was and Ryan still really didn't want the bull to touch him.Can't you just see him thinking "Get off me"? While we were in the team shop, I told Ryan he could pick something out and that he needed to pick something out for Dylan too. Ryan got this:

and Dylan got:I think Dylan kind of got the raw end of the deal. Ryan had excellent behavior for most of the game and was most fascinated by the vendors walking up and down the aisles. As each vendor passed, Ryan would say "I need a pretzel", "I need a soda", "I need lemonade" and finally: "I need....what's that" so I said "a funnel cake". Ryan's reply: "I need a fodo cake".

Finally, when the game was over and it got dark, we watched the fireworks display from the comfort of our seats and they were amazing - I guess that is what happens when you go to see fireworks in a state that sells them in the supermarket!!! The show was really long, was accompanied to music (gotta love Neil Diamond's America), and the kids loved them!
Ok, Dylan slept through almost the whole show but did open his eyes long enough to take a little peak, I guess thought it wasn't interesting and went back to sleep. Ryan gave the show 2 thumbs up though:
Thanks Erika and Richie for a great 4th of July - we had a blast and hope that next summer, we can come down again and see another game!