Okay, so I'm a little late, so sue me. I'm catching up and will make several posts in the next few hours. Been busy, been sick, been busy some more - you know the drill.
Team Odette went about six minutes down the road from our abode to the Homestead Speedway, where Homestead was putting on a pretty huge shindig. There were attractions a-plenty, from a variety of interesting food trucks, rides and jumpy blow-up thingies (what the heck are those properly called? It's escaping me), and of course, fireworks.
I managed to get selfies with the kidoodles, but I guess not with Rob. I thought I did? Must have disappeared into the ether.
I'd brought little money, but enough to get some food from a few of the food trucks. We got there around 1800, and none of us had eaten much during the day, so that was our first order of business. The kids each had some grub and an ice cream cone, while Rob held out for much later. I looked everywhere for the cheesy fries I adore so much, but none were to be found. Sadness. I settled for this delishamus duo of fried mozzarella from Xtreme Risotto. I can't do rice in any way, shape or form, so don't ask me what's "xtreme" about their risotto.
Sophia loves these things! Unlike their camera-shy brother, both girls are always game for a good photo op.
This bungee-jumpy doohickey was worth the long wait in line for the lady-babies, but Jack begged off. Both girls wore either a skirt or a dress, which must have been interesting for them and the ride operators, but um, we won't dwell on that.
Jack, as you'll see in a moment, is not at all the adventurous sort. Sophia, as you'll also discover, is quite on the opposite end of the spectrum, whereas Chloë falls somewhere in the middle... but closer to Jack's end. She didn't go very high, but she had a great time nonetheless.
Sophia was flipping and twisting and jumping and diving, going all over the place with her gymnastics, and generally loving life. I'm so glad I managed to get this shot, because lemme tell ya, I discarded quite a few missed opportunities before landing it!
Jack, meanwhile, stuck to tamer things like bumper cars. What you can't tell from this photo is that I took it immediately before getting in the car to accompany him, at his insistence. Clingy little bugger! He's always been that way, since before he was born. Always nestled in my ribs like a rabbit in its den, he was. But I digress.
Rob was hanging out with the girls on rides and in lines, while I stuck by my boy-child. He got hungry at last, so we looked at every stinkin' food truck for the second time before he settled on a piece of cheese pizza. He's picky. And he hates cheese passionately, so you know he was so thrilled when I took this picture of him.
At long last, I convinced him to go down the blow-up Titanic, which the girls had already done a time or two. That's Jack, panicking and (okay, you can't hear it, but the entire rest of the Speedway patrons did) screaming all the way down the "deck." Hilarious, but of course, being quite the chicken myself, I empathized with him. He did not get his Aunt Stacey's thrill-seeking gene like Sophia seems to have!
At long last, sundown was happening. We skedaddled into the arena, but we found it half-packed already. We opted to sit on the walkway at the bottom of things instead, for Rob's sake.
It was a pretty good show, as fireworks displays go. I was satisfied. Independence Day is absolutely my favorite holiday, so this is good. I did not want to miss the culmination of the event, so when dozens of folks including many Police Explorers showed up and stood in front of us, I put on my big girl britches and hollered at them to sit down. This ballsiness is very unlike me; is this what growing up is doing for me? Maybe I'm a late bloomer. Either way, they sat, and I was pleased.
For the second year in a row, I had unsuccessfully searched for sparklers and poppers for the kids to enjoy at home. So I was thrilled when, a coupla days later, I not only found them but found them on clearance (woot!) at the Walgreens right down the road. Boo-yah! They were absolutely delighted, and I got to relive a little bit of my favorite part of kidhood vicariously through their enjoyment. Perfect.
Thanks for visiting!
Fin.
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