Life goes on, even after a week-long vacation. We jumped right back into a busy week, with Chris in class each day 8-4 and me back to work as well. I ended up with pink eye early in the week, but a quick trip to urgent care and a bottle of drops later, All was well.

Also this week Maggie finally got to play in her first softball game. (She missed the actual first game when we were at Disney World.) Wednesday evening was cool but sunny and the excitement level was high. Maggie was up to bat first. (In this league, the coach pitches, each player swings until they get a hit, and each player on the team bats before switching to the defense.) Of course, once she made contact, she forgot what to do. She listened to the crowd urging her to run, but took her bat with her. When she heard the shouts of "Drop the bat" she ran back to leave it with the catcher. She ended up getting tagged out at first base, but hey, she had gotten a hit - so what did it matter?

She was then assigned to play second base. She paid close attention and didn't miss a single play. And she certainly wasn't more interested in chatting with Lauren than playing ball! Ha! If you believe that, well, you'll believe anything! Many balls went past her. And even when she got the ball, she wasn't sure what to do with it. After a few mishaps, she did manage to tag at least one player out - Success!

Chris took a turn as the third base coach. Here he is giving her wise base-running advice: When the bat hits the ball, you run for home!

She loved it. Everything about playing. She was still grinning when she climbed into bed. And she can't wait to do it again next week. (This week is an off week due to the holiday.)

Which holiday? Why, 4th of July of course! It was a weekend of Red, White, and Blue. We packed up and found shade along the local parade route on Sunday. The girls had fun for the first 20 minutes or so, but this parade was VERY slow, with huge gaps between entries, and that did not help the short attention spans of 4 and 6 year olds. Especially 4 and 6 year olds smart enough to figure out that the festival rides had started.
So after about an hour of parade waiting/viewing, we went over to the rides. Both girls wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, and since Chris refuses to ride, I bravely went with the girls. (hint, I LOVE Ferris Wheels!) They each got to choose one other ride, but we were cheap and limited ride spending to $20. And that is all you get for $20 these days. 5 total rides.

Abby doesn't often wear bibs anymore - she tends to yank them off the first chance she gets. But I did manage to keep her in this patriotic gem long enough for a picture. So funny!

Later that night, Chris took the big girls to see fireworks. This was his first year going to the Franklin Fireworks, as I have taken the girls for the last 2 years. We have a perfect viewing spot not too far from our house which isn't too crowded. Maggie promised she'd show Daddy just where to go. Unfortunately, we didn't check the times,and he ended up ready to watch a full 40 minutes before they were scheduled to start. That left him with time to snap this picture, and time to swat about 4 million mosquitoes.

Even though they bathed in bug spray before they left, the bugs were apparently unafraid of a little DEET. Then, to make things more interesting, once the show started, the wind decided to blow all of the smoke and ash and debris from the fireworks to exactly where they were sitting. They were pelted with little bits of fireworks throughout the whole show. Chris has already told me that it's OK if I want to take the girls next year!

Yesterday we made some tailgating food for friends who were in town for the Brewers game. They came for lunch before the game and we had a great time chatting and catching up with them. Then Chris enforced mandatory naps for the girls and I went to work.

And now this week starts a new kind of crazy....swimming lessons. Of course if you have 3 kids you can't expect that all 3 will have lessons available at the same time right? Abby goes with Chris at 0800, Katherine at 0900 and Maggie at 0930. So Chris takes Abby and I take the big girls. Every day for the next 2 weeks. I saw a mom pull up to the school today and drop off 4 school aged kids and wave goodbye to them from the car. Someday, I will have that luxury!