Celebrating America's Birthday

Happy Birthday, America!  Dexter was on the lookout all weekend for America's favorite colors.  He and Erin wore their red, white, and blue.  I wore red and blue.  Daddy was pretty lame - I don't think he wore any of America's favorite colors.  And Dexter totally called him on it when we went out in search of an open ice cream store Thursday afternoon (we ended up at DQ).  He wanted to know WHY Daddy wasn't wearing any of America's favorite colors.  That Daddy.  He's lame, sometimes.  ;-)

Dex and John stayed up late on Wednesday night and went to see the Longwood fireworks (for free, because no, we're not paying a zillion dollars to actually go IN to Longwood with a four year old).  They had a fun time, and I think were both delighted to stay inside the truck where it was cool and not humid because the AC was running the whole time.  I heard that lightening bugs and actual lightening were spotted, and Dexter's favorite fireworks were the red circles.  Probably because they almost looked pink.

On July 4th itself Dex and I went blueberry picking again in the morning.  He was ok with picking for about three minutes and then he was done.  So I gave him my camera, and he was happy for the remainder of the time while I picked four pounds of berries.

Picking one of the five or so berries he was interested in.

Traditional "Show me the blueberry" photo I make him do every year.

And now here's a few of my favorite Dexter shots.  Unedited, uncropped.  He takes a LOT of terrible photos, but every now and then he comes up with some nice ones.

View through the bird netting of the nice little pond and the rest of the farm

Dex holding a blueberry

The inside of Dexter's mouth.  I cannot even count how many of these pictures he has taken.  He giggles wildly every.  Single.  Time.

Blueberries on the ground.  I know he totally didn't mean to do it, but I love the composition of this photo.  Blueberry in contrast with the pieces of dirt, grass, and mulch.  It's almost like he knows what he is doing.  Til you watch him do it and realize it's a total crapshoot, and man do I love that little Canon Powershot (he was using my little camera that day, and I told him he WAS NOT to drop it or Mama would be very very angry...)

My blueberry bucket and Dexter's feet

Me picking berries

The flag on Dexter's shirt

The camera is back in my hands now, and I finally told him we could leave.

Not to go home, mind you.  Oh, no.  I made him pick black raspberries, too.  He picked one.  I think.  And then he was done.

Because he was in sight and walking distance of the strawberry playground when we were picking raspberries, and he DID NOT want to pick.  He wanted to play.

Yes.  The strawberry playground.  It's a strawberry.  You climb a ladder inside it, and then go down a slide.

Did you know the child can pump his own swing these days?  He's fantastically good at it and can go really really high.  This day, he went so high his Crocs fell right off his feet.  Which he thought was hysterical.

Back at home, cute stuff here posed in her firework shirt and shorts

Strategically placed America's Birthday decorations high above her head.  They are still up, of course.  Our living room is no longer called the living room.  It's called the "star room."

And here's a couple of all the kids, together.  Surprisingly, Buddy is the only one NOT eating grass in this one.

Hope everyone had a lovely time celebrating America's birthday!

PS - Dex picked his red and blue Crocs that way, on purpose.  The ones he wore berry picking got super muddy, so he wore the other ones later in the day.  They are just like the other pair, but the other way around, he said...