We started out our 4th of July bright and early with a walk to the park for pancakes. It's been several years since we've been in town on the actual 4th, and able to enjoy this event.
After pancakes and coffee in the hot sun, we played for a bit in the park. I'm including this picture because the kids were making patriotic sand sculptures. Henry made the White House. I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the history of this blog there's a photo of Henry with a sand Mount Rushmore as well.
After a swim and lunch we headed up town for the parade. Despite the annoyingness of all the chairs and tarps that had been set up for days beforehand, we were still able to find a nice spot to watch. Northbrook does a very nice 4th of July parade. The best band we saw this year was actually from Dubuque, Iowa!
It was hot. Clara thought she was pretty spiffy wearing her dad's hat and drinking my mocha (actually just the melting ice.)
There was some nice porch time after the parade, while we got ready for dinner.
Mary and Peter joined us for hamburgers. Frederick kicked back for a bit after lots of hard work.
Henry and Clara ate their dinner up in the little house. Clara had changed into her new dance clothes, for some reason.
Henry and Bampa showed off their crazy hair.
Later, Clara and Pete had some quiet time in the hammock.
Then we took off to get ready for the fireworks.
Frederick was all 'whatever.' But once the fireworks started up he was completely mesmerized. He just stared, and didn't cry a bit.
The next morning we drove to Iowa City (again!) Our first stop was to Amber's to celebrate Jeff's 5th of July birthday. Matt and Lisa were still in town, so it was fun to hang out with them.
All 3 days were great for JazzFest. Eleanor went down with us on Friday night for a little dancing and fireworks later. The IC fireworks were MUCH more crowded and loud. Our view was slightly obstructed by a tree, but it didn't bother us. The kids had much fun naming the fireworks, especially as we were all a little slap-happy on our way back to the car. Eleanor had names like "Drunken Rainbow" while Clara's were named things like "Sparkly Flower" and Henry's were all something like "I Think My Hair's On Fire!"
On Saturday Dad grilled out and we picnicked some more and had water play time.
Several of us also took napping opportunities at different points throughout the day. Dad and Kathie's new-ish porch is a fabulous napping spot. Rob made the mistake of falling asleep while Pete and I were there to put things on his head.
Later on Saturday we went back to the Pentacrest for more music. I took the two big kids in to the Capitol building, which they hadn't been in before. We got a sneak peek at the back of the stage from inside. Someone help me remember, when the time comes to paint a room in my house, that I really love the reds and blues on the walls of the Capitol.
Here are the kids going up the famous reverse-spiral staircase.
We enjoyed checking out this crazy, sweaty juggler guy later in the day.
Sunday we had lunch with Rob and Carrie and the girls. Pete and Penny have a special relationship. Here they are making silly faces for the camera.
Penny also seems to be a fan of Henry's. She was 'reading' his new (used) Harry Potter books with him.
JazzFest is certainly one of our favorite times of year, and makes us wish we lived in Iowa City. But Monday night helped us remember how much we love living near Chicago as well. Pete had taken the day off, thinking we might still be in ICIA (but Clara had to get back for her summer camp dance class) and we took advantage of the extra time to go downtown and enjoy Millennium Park. Here we are dining at the Parkside Grill (or whatever it's called) in the shadow of the Cloudgate 'Bean' sculpture.
We took a little time to play in the fountains, which seem to need a little bit of adjusting. The water isn't shooting straight out from the middle of the pursed lips right now. It really bothers me the more I look at the picture...
Then we wandered around the bean for a while and took all of the requisite silly reflective photos.
Frederick liked looking around from underneath the bean, where everything is shiny.
Then we went over to the lawn of Pritzker Pavilion. Dawes was playing that night, and they're one of our favorite new(er) bands. It was such a beautiful night to be in the city. We only got sprinkled on a tiny bit.
Clara wanted to take a picture of me and Pete. It turned out pretty well, I think.
Walking back after the show was quite lovely. The kids even stopped to catch fireflies for a while in the grass near the Bean.
In a couple of days Henry and (my) Dad will leave for their big model train convention trip to Tennessee. I imagine Dad will do lots of blogging about the event (I hope) so you can check in over there for updates. Clara and Frederick and I should be able to find some ways to keep ourselves entertained during the week as well...
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