July 4 2009

July 4 2009
Independance Day and laurel's 4th anniversary of her "Forever Family day"
We had a huge 4th of july,starting out on the 3rd of july. the kids marched(with us) in the Benicia 4th parade,they always do theirs the 3rd. Laurel will her Gym school and Zak with his pre school. It was alotta fun and quite the crowd.
Then home to bed,for a short night.
WE woke up early the 4th to drive to Danville to their amazing 4th parade. Our friends the Toyama's go each year since John plays the clarinet in one of the community bands. We have a great place to sit and watch and spend time with friends. Their were an estimated 49,000 people to be at that parade but we had great luck and a great seat.
After the parade,we traveled down the road a bit to some other friends home for a sub sandwhich and some play time in their A/C home. It was nice to visit and the kids had a blast.
After the afternoon,we head back to Vallejo to meet up again with our friends the Toyama's for the eve at Discovery Kingdom for fun and fire works. They put on a great show and we were able to see just perfectly from the round table where we had sat to eat some dinner. It was just perfect though it did get cold and there was some breeze. Vallejo,being that they are bankrupt didnt have their own Fireworks this year so im afraid alot of folks who wouldnt otherwise have come did come to Discovery Kingdom for the eve,it did make for a bigger crowd and some less desireable folks. We did notice security was beefed up a bit and there sure were alot of young adults,who obviously had failed at "manners 1A" as slightly younger folks and did make things a bit unpleasant at times where the crowds were esp bad.
Today, July 4 is also the 4th anniversary of laurel joining our family, 4 yrs ago today she joined her "Forever Family" in Changsha,China. The little barely 9 month old 15 lb peanut traveled by bus several hot hours to Changsha to meet us. it was an amazing day,not to mention the amazing past 4 yrs it has been. laurel has turned into such a darling,sweet(most a the time) and smart healthy little girl.
We are so lucky to have her and thrilled that someone thought she was just right for our family.