Beforeth the Fourth

The 4th of July was our most anticipated weekend of the summer because some of our closest friends were coming to stay with us. We saw them multiple times a week when we lived in Salt Lake and enjoyed weekly date nights, soccer seasons, endless play dates and holiday weekends together. We collaborated for Thanksgiving and Easter and New Year's Eve and even a trip to Disneyland. Needless to say, our kids became so close they considered each other cousins. Our friends were the hardest thing to leave when we moved away and we could hardly wait to be reunited. Blake and Nash started counting down when we were still 60 days out. 

The original plan was for them to arrive after the boys were in bed, but they pushed up their trip and I decided to keep it a surprise. There was a knock on our door late in the afternoon and Blake and Nash bubbled over with excitement when they saw their friends' faces. We headed straight to the pool and they instantly became inseparable once again.

We went to the beach the next morning where it was busier than I've ever seen.

 The boogie boards spent more time sliding down the sand than in the cold, salty water.

Finn pushed up to standing for the first time.

He was all smiles for a few minutes until he couldn't figure out how to get back down.

We took our visitors to explore the caves and rock formations.

Finn rather liked the addition of my sunglasses and hat that gave him extra things to grab and eat.

Crew is terrified of the ocean waves. It's nice in a way because we don't have to worry about him charging into the water. But he's so scared that he spends most of his time at the beach fighting to sit on a beach chair, even if we set up far away from the waves. However, he was all about playing in the tide pools with standing water that couldn't rush at him.

We just couldn't get enough beach, so we took another impromptu trip back to a grassy park overlooking the ocean to watch the sunset that evening.

If we didn't tire the kids out enough by spending the day in the sand and waves, we sufficiently wore them out by challenging them to run up and down the huge hill multiple times.

Our friends were so nice to help out left and right with Crew and Finn all weekend.

It couldn't have been a more perfect night to watch the sun sink into the horizon.

Nash cracked us up when he took a break from his running streak to come over to us and proclaim, "I know why all these people are here. For the basketball game!" I don't know where he got that idea but he seemed so certain of his conclusion.

Surprisingly, no hoops were shot. But he did get to spend the whole day with his favorite girl so I think that made up for his disappointment.

We crashed into bed with tired bodies, full hearts and pockets full of sand and geared up to do it all over again on the 4th of July.