The Best 3rd of July Ever!

Hands down, today was the best 3rd of July in Aidan's life so far...which isn't saying much but still, go with me here.

So today was hyped at being a pretty big day from the beginning. We had scheduled to meet Auntie Elizabeth at The Train Museum so she, Mommy and Aidan could all attend the "Creation Station" that Daddy hyped so much a couple of Tuesday's ago. Fortunately for Daddy, he and Ethan got to stroll around the train yard at our own pace to take in all the trains. I had been wanting to read all the "Informational" signs next to the trains forever, so today was the perfect day for me to learn all about the trains they had there...and learn I did! And it was a gorgeous morning too! Mommy, Auntie Elizabeth and Aidan played with Thomas trains and such for almost an hour and a half then we walked around the trains for awhile. Aidan got to ring the bell on the Big Sante Fe steam locomotive and also walked through the cabooses with Auntie E.

Afterward we headed to Red Robin for lunch. Now granted we've been trying to keep little E out of the public eye until he's 6 weeks, for not-getting-other-people's-sickness reasons, so going "out" usually means "sitting outside out". Well since it was so nice today, we all sat outside. So we had to get the "token" Ethan's first time out at a sit down restaurant picture....ironically, Aidan's was the same place. See here.

That Auntie Elizabeth and her family are such wonderful folks....Auntie E brought presents for Aidan and Ethan from her Florida trip last week AND then Aunt Janet and Grandma Janette drove over and had MORE presents for our little guys!! Thank you!!!

Next it was onto home and a nap for Mr. A and E. That's when Daddy got to have some fun...painting our basement! The paint we got was Behr's new "Primer and Paint in one" and I'll tell you it is some awesome stuff! On our solely drywall and taped walls, it probably only needed ONE coat of this paint to look good. I'm going to give it one more just to completeness sake...but geez, I was really impressed by this stuff. Hopefully tomorrow or Sunday we can have it ready for either the ceiling or trim!

Then tonight...Mommy came down and said, "I have a crazy idea." So, I said what? She wanted to pack up the whole family and head down to the St. Charles Fourth of July Fair on the Riverfront. Since we have the double-double stroller, I figured that we'd be good to go! So off we went!

They had all sorts of fun stuff and people down there, food, rides and music. We first got some dinner, Aidan had an entire 1/4 lb hot dog, 1/4 of a full dill pickle and some juice! A growing boy for sure! Then came the big challenge....was he ready for rides???

Sleepin' and Yummin'!

We have a seek and find book here with a carnival theme that he's supposed to pick out things like a Ferris Wheel, roller coaster, etc., so he's pretty well versed with the rides. But nothing prepares you for the real deal. Daddy decided that we should take on the mother of all rides at the carnival....the giant Ferris Wheel. Not sure what I was thinking, since it is the creekiest and scariest ride there, but it is what it is, so we bucked up our $8 bucks and got in line. The rest was, well, history!

A Daunting Height...and a little scared....

A little more scared...and happy!

All in all, after a few scary moments...Aidan loved it!

I did not so much like being stopped at the top though!!!

We next got on the Spinning Dragons/Dinos ride. He didn't so much love it again at first, but by the end...it was great!

So that's our busy day...people are shooting off fireworks around our house again like it's the 4th of July...it's just nuts here where there are no laws.

And finally, Ethan after bath tonight...getting gobbled up by Elmo!

Have a safe and great 4th everyone!
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan too!