4th of July, LLI, and ZooAtlanta

My first week back at home was the week of the fourth. As I tried to get back into the swing of things, we celebrated the holiday with family and friends. 

Peachtree Road Race

The Peachtree Road Race is the largest 10K in the country. I ran the Peachtree last year and Ben watched the boys. This year, Ben ran and I watched the boys. After that, we met at his sister's house for our annual 4th of July lunch and hung out with them for the afternoon. Then we headed back home for fireworks.

 Fireworks at home

Each year, there are lots of great fireworks shows near us and we usually try to go to one. This year, I wasn't really up to big crowds and thankfully the boys didn't really to care so we stayed at home to watch the show our neighbors put on. Considering fireworks are illegal in Georgia, our neighbors drove to South Carolina and bought the "good stuff" then created their own mini extravaganza. The big kids really enjoyed and it was funny watching the little ones' reactions. After the first ones were shot, they ran across to our yard, inside the garage, and sat in the jeep with their hands over their ears for the rest of the night. Every once in a while they would go inside for a few minutes but then curiosity would overtake them and they would venture back outside. I wish I had more pictures of the rest of the kids but I was still in a daze.

Lake Lanier Islands
Since we had season passes to LLI this year, we tried to make use of them as much as we could. This was Ethan's first year to be able to ride the water slides and he is fearless! He loves them all and that's all he wants to do when we are there. Unfortuantely, we don't feel comfortable unless one of rides before him or on the slide next to him which means Mommy sometimes finds herself on them as well. NOT my idea of a relaxing visit, but you do what you have to do :-)

 This is his 2nd favorite slide and he's up at the top even though you can't see him in this picture. His favorite slide has windy curves, a tunnel, and dumps you out into a small pool.

Somewhere along the way, we threw in a fun trip to the Zoo with the Pennebaker's and found a great ice cream spot afterward, but I don't have any pictures to document that occasion :-(