July 5, 2006 by Amy

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy birthday to you…
Happy birthday to you…
Happy birthday dear America…
Happy birthday to you!

Sorry for no post yesterday, but we were quite busy celebrating our nation’s independence.

M kicked off the day with a round of golf with Papa. Apparently he played quite well, despite the fact that we had to dig his golf clubs out of storage where they’ve been hiding for well over a year. He won “closest to the pin” and his team won the skins, whatever that means. All I know is he chipped in $6 at the beginning and won $10, which was then automatically kicked into the beer pot, giving him a net of -$6.

Meanwhile, I cared for the Doodle in the morning before loading up the car and heading to Grammy’s. I had a choice yesterday morning: post to the blog or call Steffi and catch up. Steffi won. Thanks for the chat…it was long overdue!

Beans ran to Sam’s for us and picked up diapers (thanks, Beanie!) and then we all met at Grammy’s and hung our for awhile, discussing weddin’ plans and just BSing. Then Beano put on her Grillmeister hat and grilled hamburgers and brats. When M and Papa got back from golf they changed into their trunks and jumped into the pool to cool off. Papa insisted that Zozo go swimming, so I changed her into her Nemo swim diaper and her adorable swimsuit and handed her to her daddy. She splashed and played in the water for a bit, and then we decided it was time for Zozo to go under.

M dunked her three times, to the tune of “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” taking her under with the line “…and washed the spider out!” The first time, she came up with eyes the size of quarters and a look on her face like, “What the hell was that?!” It looked like she was going to cry, so we all cheered and clapped, and she figured out that perhaps dunking was fun. The second two times she was just fine. We’re pretty sure we’ve ruined “Itsy Bitsy Spider” for her from now on, but sometimes you just gotta sacrifice something to move ahead.

Many thanks to Papa for taking M golfing, and to Grammy and GG for sharing their morning/afternoon with us. After swim time, we ate a quick bite with the fam and then packed everything back up again and headed back towards home.

Fourth of July at Grandma and Grandpa Z’s is always quite an affair. Lots of people, all of whom I love, and tons of really great food. Grandpa Z always does ribs on the grill with his world-famous barbecue sauce, which happens to be the only barbecue sauce I will eat. Most barbecue sauces have a smoky flavor, which is just disgusting to me. I wrote off Bandana’s Barbecue with one look at their tagline, which is “Smell that smoke!” Ugh. Icky. Anyway, we had fun with the cousins, as we always do, and even got in a couple rounds of bocci ball before the rains came.

Always troopers, almost everyone packed up their cars and headed to the polo grounds at St. Louis Country Club for fireworks despite the rain. We lucked out and found that the club had erected a rather large tent for all of us to stand/sit under. Someone related to the head of the pyrotechnics team assured us that the fireworks would indeed go on, even if it was raining, so we hung out and waited.

M was holding Zozo for the first shell, and she started to fuss a little bit. Again, we clapped and said, “Yaaaaay!” and after a few more she was just fine. I held her for the middle of the show and M took her back near the end, and she ended up loving the fireworks. She was tracking the shells as they fired, and then waiting for the burst, smiling and laughing when they went off. She’s one helluva little girl, I’ll tell ya. She’s our little firecracker, and I hope she stays open to trying new things.

That’s about it from here. I’m sure I’m leaving out a few important details, but man, I am tired. It feels like we’ve been on-the-go for several straight weeks now. I sure hope things settle down a bit, but I have a feeling they won’t unless we start declining invitations and such. I don’t see that happening because we always have so much fun. Maybe I should start drinking Red Bull or something.