Independence Day and Blueberries

We celebrated the Fourth of July at the annual Central Gardens Independence Day Parade. The neighborhood kids decorate their bicycles, wagons, and strollers. The parade lasts a block or two and then everyone enjoys watermelon, hotdogs, and snowcones. The firemen brought a firetruck for the kids to explore, and the hose cooled everyone down.

Later on, we went to pick blueberries at the Nesbit Blueberry Plantation. Noah started off determined, but it didn't last. About two seconds after I took this picture, he tripped and fell. He was fine physically, but his attitude never fully recovered...

Andrew took to blueberry picking like he does to every job - it was serious business. He really wanted to fill up his entire bucket, even if it meant picking blueberries out of my bucket. I didn't mind.

Noah picked a few blueberries, and that was enough for him. He's starting to lose it right about now...

   

Andrew's haul, sweet and delicious...

T Ball

Andrew played T ball this summer. I'm a little behind on this one: T ball started around the same time school let out in May, and here is it August, and a new school year is only a few weeks away. That's about how it was with T ball. We missed some of the practices and games, due to vacation, and forgot to bring the camera to most of the games. To be honest, I didn't see many of them myself...if Noah made it through half the game, I considered it a success. Overall, Andrew enjoyed it. The first practice was great. The kids had no idea what to do. When told to run to first base, they got to the base and kept on running...not around the bases, but just straight past the base, to the fence. Every kid did the same thing. The coach might disagree, but I thought it was hysterical.

After a few practices and games, the kids got the general idea and it looked a little more organized. 

This picture sums up T Ball perfectly: 

Taylor put in some time as assistance coach. (I think for T ball to be a success, your coach-player ratio needs to be 1:1! )

Andrew says that soccer is still his favorite, but he had fun playing T ball. It was a nice way to start the summer.