Go 4th

By sheer accident I ended up doing a lot of the traditional Fourth of July activities with Mason yesterday. We saw some friends of Facebook were organizing an impromptu picnic at Swede Hollow, so we packed up the picnic basket (and, because Mason was involved, an entire EXTRA bag full of books -- just in case.) We arrived at the park ten minutes before our hosts, but we hung out in the shade and kept an eye out for them. After a lovely meal of ham and cheese sandwiches, pickles, fresh strawberries and a few Doritos, we took a stroll/hike around the park with our friends. It was hot, but the breeze was pleasant. Eagle Eye Steve spotted a deer in the underbrush, and the intrepid nature photographer Shari sunk up close enough to the beastie to get a pretty good photo. Mason was pretty good until near the end when the heat caught up with him and he got a little tired (and whiney).

I was thinking that we'd done all our 4th stuff with that nature adventure, but Mason said he really wanted to see some fireworks. Shawn, btw, is still pretty sick. She slept most of yesterday and was feeling pretty woozie in the evening. Thus, we were on our own for fireworks. Before passing out, Shawn noticed that Roseville has a celebration at Central Park. It sounded like it might be our speed, so after watching Mason's favorite TV show in rerun (Master Chef), we headed out. I'm glad we left early. Even though we were there two hours before the show officially started, we had to park several blocks away. BUT, we were with an early enough crowd that we found a really prime spot. Turns out our view was slightly blocked by a couple of tall pine trees, but really not in any significant way. I think there were really only a couple of the lower "shower" types that were somewhat harder to see. At any rate, it had a nice, small town feel -- us spread out on our a checked blanket, Mason reading from his pile of books, and me napping/people watching.

All and all, I'd say it was a pretty good 4th. The only thing we missed was an invitation from naomikritzer to have a Pokemon playdate with her daughter. ( naomikritzer , I tried to call, but your line was busy!)

Today looks gray and it's 10 am and Mason is still asleep. I'm hoping that means that I'll get some decent writing done.