A Very Happy Fourth...

Yesterday was by FAR my favorite fourth of July ever. We did all the same things I'm sure EVERYONE else did too, but it was just really fun. We went over to Jer's parents and swam ALL day. Brayden has gone from being terrified of going under water to a little fish. Its so crazy. He did swimming lessons last year, but he totally regressed, it only made it worse. But after some time with his Uncle Zach in the pool, (I guess Zach has special skills that we dont!)suddenly he made a complete turnaround. The first time I saw him swim, he told me to "watch" but I wasn't expecting him to go under and swim to the other side like he did. My jaw dropped for a LONG time. He was just beaming and cracking up at my dramatic jaw-drop pose (complete with letting the ice I was chewing on fall out). I am SO proud of him! Zach is the best! Poor Kosty in the pic look at his HUGE swollen diaper, so funny. Geez mom, get me a little swimmer! Oh, and I sort of learned how to dive, Jer tried coaching me for a while, and I did a few baby dives, but I never did work up the courage to run, jump, and dive. I don't know what it is about diving, it just makes me so scared! Urg. Brayden kept on cheering for me in the sidelines, "you can do it mama. It's easy." and "are you scared?" "its ok." He even critiqued my attempts, in one I completely panicked and flopped in like a spider (yowser), and he said, "no mama, that looked like this" as he held up a limp hand with all the fingers pointed down. :) For some reason he sure is fascinated by my weaknessess. I think it must be funny for him to see his mom "scared" or vulnerable about things. He must just always think that mom & dad are brave and fearless. Not so! Sweet boy. Then we went to the Fireworks show by our house. Jer bought Brayden one of those sparkly glow thingys that is a mouthpiece, it was pretty cool! They had bouncy houses for the kids, then we ate watermelon and barbeque and then layed on our good ol' Grandma Judd quilt and watched the fireworks, it doesn't get any more American! It was so dark, and we were right under the fireworks, and there was beautiful music playing. It gave me goosebumps. My heart was warm, and I am so grateful and proud to live in America. When the first firecracker went off, Brayden said, "oh no, we're gonna die!" what a goof. But really, we were RIGHT under them. Kosty was cracking us up because he was laying on my chest and he didn't move a single muscle the whole show, except to say "moa, moa." (more) He LOVED it. I know you can't tell by the picture of his STONE FACE! He giggled at all the loud ones. I think it was special because both my kids were old enough to really enjoy it this year. :)