4th of July - summer's bittersweet midpoint

It's sad to say it, but summer is pretty much halfway over. Pretty soon, there will be back-to-school sales, crispness in the air and orange leaves. Before you know it, it's Christmas.

Geeez.

But as much as I bemoan the 4th of July as the peak of summer season (all downhill from here, people), I can't really hate on it too much, because there ain't too much cuter than little kids in Americana-themed clothing. And I do love me some cookout food!

This particular 4th was perfection: hot but not too humid; a parade and fireworks in Annapolis; three cookouts and one crab-feast; two sets of red-white-and-blue outfits; baby pools, water tables, cousins, cupcakes - and lots and lots of sparklers.

Waiting for the 4th of July parade in historic downtown Annapolis. My kids now are obsessed with parades, because they got handfuls of candy thrown at them during this one.

Cheeeeeeeese.

Coincidentally, Tahira and I both brought our families to Annapolis this Fourth! It was really fun to hang out with family unexpectedly.

That's Russy on Reggie's shoulders. Guess whose kids didn't cry about the fireworks this year? That's right. My big kids!

At a cookout at my friend David's house, he handed out sparklers and the kids loved them! Clair called hers a "wand."

Our friends Kelly and Mark had a crab feast and pulled out the baby pool. Lots of splashing with Naomi and baby Jason and then, of course: "I'm cooooooold!!" When cold, must eat popsicles. You didn't know?

We finally got to taste the tomatoes the kids grew in their own little pots at Jason and Kelly's house. "They taste GOOD!" the kids exclaimed. Pay Dean's tart-face no attention. He loved them. Thanks, Farmer Jason!

At a cookout at my Mom and Dad's house, I got to chat with this guy, Tyren, who I used to play with when I was like 9 years old. I haven't seen him in a thousand years! He came from Texas with his parents (my Dad's good friends), his wife and three gorgeous daughters, who are 14, 11 and 9. I felt so old! LOL.

After four nights out of the house until at least 11 p.m., so much running around in the sun, lots of walking, and fireworks, sweet treats, splashing, friends, cousins and hot dogs, my kids did what they almost NEVER do: They conked OUT in the car. It was blissful. (P.S. Dean is wearing my sunglasses. Isn't he the most adorable?)

Lester and I did a lot of talking this holiday about what it means to be both an American and a black person in America. It's an interesting dual perspective to carry around, living in a country that is so awesomely wonderful in so many ways, and also still so intolerant of -- and sometimes downright hateful to -- people who look like us.

We know people who find it hard to embrace the Fourth because of that dichotomy. Some were posting photos on Facebook of slaves picking cotton, with text that said, "This is what my ancestors were doing in 1776." And it's true. American freedom means different things depending on who you are in this country. That was true in 1776, and though things are exponentially better now, it is still true today.

But I am still really proud to be an American. And I am still certain that there are few places on this planet where so many people of all different stars and stripes could have so much opportunity. I look at my beautiful children -- the descendants of people who toiled and bled and died so that they could wave sparklers and eat hot dogs like everyone else -- and I am truly optimistic that our country will one day get to where it needs to be. If any country can do it, we can. 

 "And crown thy good with brotherhood...from sea to shining sea."

What happens when you decide to focus at work...

What happens when you decide to focus on actually doing your work at work?

Blogging suffers. (Also, Facebooking suffers, but I can do that at home when I'm supposed to be paying attention to my children.)

Anyway, I have had a lot of stuff on my plate at work, especially since I was off two days last week for the Fourth, and we're off all of next week for our family trip to the beach. (More on that later.)

So I have not had time to blog and I honestly feel guilty about that, because I want to make sure I'm getting down the things I think, feel and observe about my children's lives when I think, fell and observe them. I know too well that time makes memories misty and water-colored (thanks Barbra!) and I don't trust myself to get it right after too much time has passed.

But I gotta work. And I realized I was getting way too distracted by blogging and Facebooking and other important things -- list-making, etc. So I had to make a change. I intend to make this a real change, not just a temporary one, so until I find a way to work blogging in more regularly while still being more focused on work, I'm afraid this blog will be updated much less.

Meanwhile, we had a GREAT time over the 4-day weekend. We went to a friend-of-a-friend's pool twice, went to my Mom's house, rode the water taxi to Fort McHenry (hello, synapse checklist!), saw fireworks (Cary liked, Dean did not, Clair said "Pop!" each time they went off), enjoyed a strawberry pancake breakfast as a family, and just had a darn good time of togetherness and love and fun.

Can't wait for more of that during our WEEK (yikes!) at the beach! (More on that later.)

Before I get to the pictures from our fun holiday of togetherness, I have to inject here that Cary has an ear infection, of course, now that we are on our way to the beach. The good news is, this should not affect his surgery in any way. So yay! Hopefully, by 9 a.m. on the 22nd, Cary Glenn Davis will be able to hear normally. I'll keep you updated on that.

Also, I started getting sick on Sunday night (thanks to Stacey, who had been hacking behind me at work for a week) so on Monday I went and bought all the echinacea/zinc/vitamin C crap I could find and started pumping myself with it. (I am usually a skeptic about that kind of stuff, but I was willing to try anything to avoid being sick on vacation.) I would like to report that I am at 98-percent today -- just three days later. HOORAY!

I will definitely have to try that regimen again before I will be a true believer, but I can say that I WILL try it again. That's a good sign.

Now...photos!!

How cute are they all patriotic and whatnot?

Call me a cornball, but I love "themed" kids.

Here we are on the WATER TAXI! Technically, since the boys are still 3, this counts toward their synapse checklist. I've decided to extend it through their third year. Aren't I clever?

We took the boat to Fort McHenry, where we heard a cannon shot (scared the daylights out of the boys), and met these soldiers. It was 10,000 degrees on July 4. Their uniforms are wool. God help them.

The day after the 4th, we went and spent the day at Nana and Granddad's, where the boys splashed in a pool in the yard with their cousins for hours and had the best time. Clair still refuses to go to anyone but me and cries hysterically when people try to hold her, play with her or even speak to her. Sigh.

 I attempted to make an American Flag cake. It tasted better than it looks. Cary said, "American flag cake? That is so silly!"

And on Sunday morning, Lester made pancakes, with fresh strawberries on top. YUMMM. P.S. Clair can now feed herself with a spoon.

This is a scene from the EPIC pool party Stacey invited us to two days after the 4th. There's a brass band IN THE POOL. There was also delicious BBQ and cocktails. We visited this pool on the 4th, as well, without the band or the extra people, and it was still fun. Heated salt-water pool in my next life? Yes, please!

This girl did NOT want to get out of the water. She is totally my water baby.

See? Look how much fun we're having!

Meanwhile, these two scaredy-cats would only stay on this raft, which they called a "boat" and allow women (and Lester) to float them around while they hollered out commands. Typical.

We'll see how these kiddos do when we get to the beach. I predict Clair will love, until she gets knocked down by a wave, and the boys will do just slightly better than they did last year, when they refused to even get in the water.

About the beach: We leave on Saturday and I have done NOTHING to prepare. Not one thing. No packing. No shopping. No obsessive list-making. No weather-checking. Nothing.

See what happens when you're focused on work? Everything else takes a backseat.

One of these days, I'll get this work-life balance thing right. Until then, see ya when I see ya! I got work to do!

Xoxoxox.