Independence Day and the "4th" of July

Ben had the day off of work on Friday, so we started our celebrations early by going to the beach.

We played with some cute friends.

Cody, Macey and Ben did some boogie boarding

and sand castle building 

 and mermaid sculpting 

 Two days before the 4th I decided to run the 10K Freedom Run. 

To train, I had gone on vacation and eaten out often with lots of treats mixed in.

Do you like where this is going? I'm already making excuses.

Anyway. When I signed up I kind thought it would be funny if I took 4th place, because, I always never win. But I've gotten 4th many times. Which is cool. It's just...not cool. So close, but so far away.

Well it just so happens, I TOOK 4th place! In my age group.

When I went and looked at the times, it was almost nostalgic.

At least this time it wasn't frustrating, just ironic.

I have a friend who ran a race, but it wasn't a city race, it was a legit race with camera crews ready to interview the winners. Well, she came in 2nd place, but once the times were figured in she ended up in 4th place, OVERALL. (remember the "not a city race" - she's super fast.) The camera crews mid-sentence ran away from her to interview the others!! She is from Argentina originally and in Spanish there's a saying and I don't really know what it is, but something like "Marta Marta viene en quarta"

Martha martha comes in fourth. I don't know...but it sounds funny in spanish!

Anyway, I'm getting used to being the first loser. Call me Marta.

 After my race I went and got the kids to do their race. 

A 1k - they rocked it!

 We went swimming then headed over to a friend's house for a bbq.

 Then headed to the park for games and fireworks.

 When Mackayla gets really tired she gets a little extra pep in her step.

So for at least half of the fireworks she danced around us to the music and tried to grab the fireworks. 

 The finale was pretty awesome this year, here's the evidence:

 After the fireworks it is the mass exodus home. There's only a couple cars on the road and a huge line of people leaving the park in every direction. This year we had the kids ride their scooters and it worked out great. We live about a mile from all the action. By the end of the night, from walking back and forth, I had walked/ran 13 miles!

 We're thankful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy