4th of July 2008 - Schei and O'Shea

We spent the day celebrating our independence with the O'Sheas at their house in Snohomish. The men and children waded down the river 50 yds to "Rock Island" located in the middle of the Pilchuck River. Kyle and Andy spent a good hour building a rock wall in hopes of creating the perfect swimming hole for the kids amidst the gentle rapids. Michelle and I sat on their patio discussing our life, the liberty that some peoples' children take to just speak their mind regardless of how young and inexperienced they are, and the pursuit of happiness - in other words, getting through the next 7 months until Benjamin walks and can be somewhat independent of me or in Michelle's case, telling off those few 9 year olds who have lost all social tact, consequently causing hurt feelings in hopes of boosting their own ego... yes, I encouraged this immature behavior in Michelle. When you spend most of the day embracing the lives of your children and all they encounter, sometimes you find yourself punching a 5 year old in the face in order to release the aggression you've had pent up since that one girl in middle school kissed your boyfriend behind the portables.

You never completely heal from those things.

After emerging from the river one by one, the children sunk into the hot tub. The big kids worked on large feats such as holding their breath under water while William stood on the sidelines shooting every head that popped up with his first ever water gun. It was so fun to watch.






















For dinner we barbecued steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers. Devoured a large bowl of freshly picked strawberries and helped ourselves to one, if not two, helpings of dessert. The kids entertained themselves for a couple more hours while the adults sat and enjoyed each others' company outside. Ben, of course, either standing atop someone's legs doing his best impression of a bobblehead or attached to my breast.

I really can't wait until he walks.

The game plan for the evening was to stay put until dusk arrived, caravan up to Marysville and witness the Everett fireworks display. A client of Andy's invited us to take up residence for the evening in their vacant million-dollar home overlooking the bay. Once we arrived, the men and children, once again, took off for the water while Michelle and I sat and chatted. It was at that moment that I turned around with a look of confusion as I heard the faint sounds of patriotic music spilling from the kitchen window out onto the patio. I looked at Michelle and asked, "did you bring your own music?" She had. So there we were. Like a couple of old ladies sitting side by side and embracing the joys and pains of our country's history in silence. But then I couldn't stop laughing and shaking my head at the two of us. I'd regain my composure, pay respect to the moment and then fall into laughter again. I believe I cried I was grinning so hard. It was an awesome moment. While the music played we pulled our blankets up to our chins and prepared ourselves for the return of the men and children up from the water. The evening had only begun.


It was from there that we watched thousands of fireworks throughout the evening. Kids were up until after 11pm - something we've never done before. Seriously. But there was so much joy to be had as we sat sprawled out on the lawn looking up at the sky and laughing with our friends.
Its gonna be hard to top this year's 4th, that's for sure.