Where did you get that cheerio?: 4th of July weekend

These were some happy boys!

Fort Benning had its Independence Day celebration Saturday evening and lucky us, Jason's unit let them spend time with their families! It felt so good to have my brood back together again!

We arrived around 5:30 that night, parked amidst the traffic-filled parking lots way the heck away from the field where everything was happening and trekked over there. We found Jason pretty quickly and I got to meet some of the guys he's in school with, all nice guys. It was especially nice meeting his two buddies, other prior service members, who he spends most of his time with. I call them the Three Muskateers.

While the guys stood guard over our picnic blanket and bags, we ventured off to explore the booths and games and to get some lemonade to cool off.

The lemonade didn't last too long. James insisted on playing a game or two, so with Daddy's assistance, he banged on this one and won two swords.

Many a sword fight followed.

More sword fighting (or rather twig fighting).

And even more sword fighting.

We settled down after a while. James wouldn't got near the inflatables, but marvelled at them from a distance. We were chatting with Jason and his guys when all of a sudden it started thundering. Out of nowhere we got caught in a downpour. Rain hit us like pellets and everyone started running off for either the parking lots or covered tents. Jason got called off to a formation, so I had to drag the wet, whining kids, and all our heavy, soaked stuff, and a stroller through the mud back to the car. We stopped under a tree with another group of people (which didn't seem like the greatest idea during a thunder storm, but the rain was hitting so hard it hurt). It was a horrible day to be wearing a white top. When it lightened up a little, we took off again toward the car. I cursed the far-away parking lot the whole way, alternately sliding and getting stuck in the mud. James was hysterical because he wanted his Daddy and he wanted to see the fireworks. We finally got to the car and got everyone inside and buckled up and like clockwork--it stopped raining. Are you kidding me??

We sat for a while, like several of the people around us. Some left, some went back. We sat. We stayed there for probably an hour and finally I got out and asked someone if they had shut it down. The man said that it didn't look like and that they'd started blowing up the inflatables and playing music again. My phone got soaked in the rain so it wasn't working at all, so we couldn't get in touch with Jason to find out if he got to come back. But James had to pee and we were sick of just sitting there all soaked, so we got back out and headed down there.

I looked for Jason where we'd all gathered before--nothing. We walked around past all the booths, looking through the concert crowd, the lemonade, BBQ, and funnel cake stands, everywhere I thought he might be. He'd been in civilian clothes before, so I looked for polos and khakis. Nothing.

We walked around for over an hour, only stopping at the port-a-potty for James (who was super grossed out--who could blame him?) and there was no sign of him. Finally, I found this group of an older couple and a woman who I guessed was their daughter who looked friendly. I told them about my phone and the rain and not being able to get in touch with my husband who was in school and asked if I could use their cell phone. They were happy to let me, but he didn't answer. I left him a message to meet me at the token tent in the center and that I'd wait there a while. We sat for a little bit, looked around, and finally I lightened up. I figured we weren't going to see him, they were probably called back in and put on duty and that as long as we were at this thing, I might as well make the most of it. I offered to take James to the bouncy houses. He didn't want anything to do with them. He wanted ice cream. Blue ice cream (of course). So we stood in line for some tokens and got some blue italian ice to share.

As we were sitting there eating our ice, the man from the group before came over and told me that my husband had called the phone back and they'd just missed it and asked if I wanted to try him again. How nice were these people?? So I ran over and gave him one more call and he answered! They had just let them come back out and were in uniform this time (which was like trying to find a needle in a haystack--there were TONS of soldiers in uniform all over). We got to spend maybe half an hour with him after that, but it made the night so much better! I thanked them profusely for getting me in touch with him.

Our time together was short, but we all got some good hugs in there. It was hard for James to let go, especially. He kept telling Daddy that we had to take him home and he couldn't go back to school. It made it that much harder on Jason, too.

Riley was sad to see him go, too. Especially since he had to sit in the stroller again. hmph.

Even dumber than Jason having to leave--they called him in right before they started the fireworks display!! The boys and I tried to make the most of it and picked a good spot to sit down and wait for the show. A nice man in front of us offered them some gummy snacks. There was a tv news crew filming right next to us and when I told James he started acting silly in hopes that they'd film him!

When the fireworks started, James was a little freaked out by the noise, so he curled up in my lap like a kitten, begging me to scratch his back.

Riley loves a good show, so he ate it all up. He was grinning and clapping and watching with wide eyes.

James eventually warmed up a little, but kept my arms wrapped tight around him.

It was a nice, big show, and reminded me of the ones we used to see at Fort Campbell. We got stuck in forever-long traffic in the parking lot, which I expected but still sucked. It was after midnight by the time we got home and in bed and we were all wiped out.

The next day, my friend Casey's daughter Lucy came over for the day. She's right in between the boys' ages, so she's a perfect playmate to either. She hadn't been over for half and hour and James was already asking her on a date to "go see the fireworks" (he sure knows how to work it!).

When Riley went down for his nap, James set up his Mickey Mouse fold out chairs to "watch the fireworks" in the living room. He sat her and handed her a pink bowl of cheezits and worked his little ladies-man-magic. It was precious to watch.

I had intended on letting James skip his nap, but he kept acting up (and acting super tired) so I put him down as I got Riley up. He took her on a "movie date" and they watched Max & Ruby a million times and read some books.

Today, finally the actual Fourth, was low-key. We spent it grocery shopping, eating popsicles...

...watching Twilight Zone marathons on the syfy channel. No matter how many holidays I've spent watching these old episodes over and over I still get a thrill from each twist!

We did "arts and craps". We broke out the mod podge, clipped some magazines, and fancied up our $1 frames from the craft store.

Riley had a meltdown because he wasn't interested in decorating the frame as much as dumping glue onto everything.

After knocking everything off the table, and flipping over furniture and throwing things, he got a little time out in the corner. Pretty much his first real time out. He calmed himself down in minutes and came out to give me a hug. He's such a sweet little boy, but man are these tantrums wearing me out. James is having his own behavioral issues. He's very defiant and rather than asking or telling me what he wants, he just starts beating up on and picking on his brother. I'm afraid of him becoming a bully or how it'll affect Riley in the long run. I try separating them, explaining the importance of using his words and telling me what he wants, punishing him, comforting Riley, taking things away, everything. I make it clear that it's unacceptable to hurt anyone, especially his brother. It's just a lot to juggle right now, especially with Jason being gone. I know that's where a lot of the acting out is coming from. Whew! Kids, man.