Fourth of July

 Isn't it funny how we make all these plans for our lives and most of them fall apart? We can stomp our feet and cry all we want when life doesn't go as we expect it to but then I think we'd truly be missing the best parts.

I was super excited to celebrate the Fourth (it's been a while). My favorite 4th of July was spent in a small town in the suburbs of Chicago with my Mission Year buddies. We had a BBQ and sat on blankets to watch the fireworks.

Well, what did we wake up to that holiday morning? Clouds and rain...in Phoenix! Completely unheard of. Although I really didn't expect to be stuck indoors for this holiday (fail #1), it did mean cooler temperatures which we were all fine with (surprise #1). 

My mum and I went to breakfast and browsed some second hand stores which I really enjoyed. Although our order of toasted croissants took 1/2 hour to arrive (fail #2), we found some awesome stuff for my classroom for a great price (surprise #2). Then I came home and tried to make Fourth of July strawberries (credit to Pinterest for the idea). I was stoked with how they turned out but not so stoked when the decorations completely melted as we traveled in the car (fail #3)! Note to self: ALWAYS freeze things with decorations the night before when you live in the desert.  I quickly went into a huff as my four year old consoled me with "it's okay mum, you tried. It doesn't matter." Uh, yeah Abbey, but I'm choosing to be really immature about this right now.

We next went to a BBQ at our friend's house which was great. Abbey played with their neighbor friend and was entertained/occupied the whole time (surprise #3).  As we arrived home later that afternoon Will and I decided that we really should have made plans for fireworks that night (fail #4). Last minute, we finally decided to make a break for it and go across the road from our apartment complex to the baseball stadium where they had a massive set up for the holiday. We managed to meet my mum there and made it in by 8pm (surprise #3). 

After heading over to the kids rides we discovered they all had water and I hadn't thought to bring Abbey's bathing suit (fail #5). She didn't care and was happy enough to go on the two bouncy castles/slides that were water free (surprise #5). The fireworks were beautiful, we didn't get stuck in crowds and overall we had a beautiful holiday (surprise #6,7 and 8).