(Is that song/title a bit overplayed for this fourth of July? Probably. Ah well.)

If you know me well, you know that I have never really enjoyed Independence Day. It is my least favorite holiday and we rarely do much to celebrate it. This year was really no different. Mike ran a 5 mile race (came in third place in his age group), the kids and I went to a parade in Cannon Falls, I took Lucy to the Emergency Room for this horrible virus she has which keeps her so congested that she has trouble breathing and Mike and I tried to do something a little festive with Benjamin in the evening. Neither of us thought to buy fireworks, sparklers or anything, but we did find a bag of champagne bottle poppers in our basement storage closet. As far as Benjamin was concerned, these were fireworks and we had a blast (pun intended) shooting them off on the deck before the sun went down.

Lucy is still recovering from whatever it is that she has.  She spends all night coughing and neither of us gets much sleep because of it.  If only Baby NyQuil was such a thing.

It is just a short time before Benjamin and I board a plane to Chicago for the weekend, but I've been meaning to get the newest photos online and blog, so here it is.

Last weekend I travelled down to Winona to visit friends from college for a fun-filled night. I finally got to see my friend Tina's baby, Eleanor, who is adorable! Tina and Samantha and I went to LaCrosse as a kind of post-baby-celebration. We had a great time. Mike and Benjamin drove down on Sunday and we all were able to hang out for a while.

Earlier in the week we surprised Mike's Mom for her birthday by showing up for dinner...and staying for two nights! While up in the cities, we played with AJ and Benjamin's uncles/aunt and even snuck in a little time away for some drinks and dinner with Joe and Jen.

The 4th was relaxing, we didn't really do very much. Mike ran a 5 mile race in Stewartville that morning and Benjamin and I came out to watch. He did really well despite some pretty bad humidity. Other than that, we just grilled some hot dogs and spent some time watching Benjamin play in his new sandbox from G&G Andrews.

The newest batch of photos also includes some shots of the All Comers Track Meet, which Benjamin has run in twice. The Rochester Track Club puts this event on for kids of all ages. We're still trying to get Benjamin to run the full length of the race by himself, he gets kind of overwhelmed with the whole thing. His favorite part is getting a mark from a marker on his hand at the end (a way for the volunteers to know he got a ribbon), he thinks it makes him very special!

As I said before, we are off to Chicago in just a couple of hours. We are throwing Erin a baby shower on Saturday and all sorts of out of town family will be in. Benjamin can't wait to see his "Great Ahma"!!!

Well, Happy 4th of July to everyone! The three of us spent a fabulous five days together over the holiday weekend and it was awesome! We spent time just hanging out, drove down to Winona to see good friends, ate Cambodian food at an engagment party of sorts, cooked tasty food, had visitors, and watched a great firework display! What a wonderful time!

For the fourth, we had our friends Sam and Jake over for the day and then we went to The Olson's house for their own personal firework display! Benjamin's first exposure to fireworks actually went great! He was a bit concerned about the noises, but was a great little guy! I am adding a video of the event below.

Benjamin had his 12 month doctor's appointment on Friday and he is doing great! The doctor was very impressed with his cruising skills and the fact that he's totally off of bottles. He weighs in at 23 lbs and is 29.5 inches tall. Completely in the 50th percentile for both height and weight!! He has started to stand all on his own, but has yet to take a step. We keep thinking it will happen soon, but then we remember how long it seemed like he was close to rolling over...haha.