4th of July Week

We have had a very busy week! It has been so wonderful to spend time as a family and do some fun things together! Jeff took the whole week off which is something he has never done since he started working- it was pretty darn awesome! We kicked off the week last Sunday by taking Ella to the 4th of July carnival over in Lions Park. I had been to the carnival years ago as a kid but could hardly remember what it was like so we weren't sure whether she would like it or not. Well she LOVED it! There weren't a ton of rides she could go on because she is still pretty small and many have height requirements but she loved the merry go round and a random car ride. The highlight of the evening was when Ella and I rode the Ferris Wheel together! It was so much fun! I thought she would get scared but she had a ball- she just kept waving at her Daddy and saying "Higher higher!"
The next day, Monday was the 4th. We started out by meeting my parents for the parade in Urbandale. Both kiddos did great and even though Ella didn't get much candy she still had a good time! Then we headed home and went to our neighbor's Dave and Donna's house for a BBQ. It was fun to see all our neighbors and watch the kiddos run around and play. Then it was time to head home for naps. In the evening, we had all the neighbors over for drinks in the driveway while the kids played and watched fireworks. We are truly blessed to be in such a wonderful neighborhood with wonderful friends and we know our kids will grow up to be best of friends as well! Brody boy went to bed at his usual 7 PM bedtime and slept through all the fireworks bless his heart. This is the first year we have kept Ella up for them and while she was a bit scared of the actual fireworks, she had a ball playing with her friends, doing sparklers, blowing bubbles, and running around with flashlights. She was up until after 11 PM!
Tuesday was a day to sort of catch up on sleep and recuperate and we also packed and got organized for our trip to Okoboji. We spent the rest of the week up at Jeff's parents' lake house with 15 members of my family. Both my aunts/uncles and cousins all came up, along with my parents, my brother and my grandma. We had five days of beautiful weather and had a great time! We spent most of our days floating lazily on rafts in the water, the boys fished a lot and we took evening boat rides. It was so nice. I will say that vacationing with two little ones is a bit more hectic than it used to be when it was just Jeff and I! It felt like one of us was always running after someone but I wouldn't have it any other way! Both Brody and Ella had little lifejackets to wear and loved floating in the water! I was wondering how B would do but he just loved floating around in his little inner tube and looked as relaxed as could be.
One night we took Ella to Arnold's Park and she absolutely loved all the rides there. It was a fun way to end the evening. It was also Jeff and my four year wedding anniversary during the trip so we celebrated by sneaking away while Grandma watched the kids for a bit and had an awesome dinner by the lake. It was fun to think back over the past four years as we shared a bottle of wine and to realize how far we have come! Our first anniversary I was pregnant with Ella and she was pretty little our second anniversary so we didn't do a whole lot to celebrate. Last year I was deathly ill battling hyperemesis so our third also went a bit unnoticed so it was nice to have some quality time together this year!