Our fourth of July celebrating went pretty smoothly this year. Last year, we messed up and missed the big fireworks show at the quarry, but not this time. We were johnny on the spot, securing the date in our memories and on our calendar, packing along things to do, etc. The kids loved it. The fireworks were “amazing” and “so beautiful.” True to form, about five minutes into the show we had waited more than an hour for, Ian asked, “is it time to go home now?”

Waiting for the fireworks at the quarry lake near our house

It’s true that Maya and Ian enjoyed the big fireworks show, and it’s also true that they had a fun fourth of July parade at their school, but the big event, the thing they had been waiting all week for happened on Wednesday the 4th: Lolli and Pop came into town. I thought the kids were going to maul them when they arrived that afternoon. Allllll morning they had been asking when they’d get here.

Zero scared of the sparklers.

Afternoon thunderstorms thwarted the plans we had made to hang out with our friends and deploy fireworks with their kids. Instead we hung out on our front porch and threw poppers and played with sparklers. Maya again was nervous about the sparklers and basically had to be helped with them till the very end.

That evening, Sean and Pop went and picked up pizza from Via 313 for dinner. I still haven’t actually been to the restaurant, but I have benefited from Sean’s lunchtime leftovers many times. This is Detroit-style pizza, and it is delicious.

Hanging out with Lolli and Pop

The next day, I didn’t see a whole lot of what went on because I wound up working. From the sound of things, there was a lot of hide-and-seek with Pop and a lot of playing a farming game on the computer with Lolli. They all went out and had Nashville hot chicken at T22 for lunch. I was gifted with lemon meringue pie for dessert.

Pop and Maya playing Nintendo

Sean and Pop went and bought groceries so I could cook dinner that night. Throughout the week, the kids had been running through various desserts they could make for Lolli and Pop. There was discussion of brownie cookies, bundt cake, and who knows what else. They eventually settled on baking them a heart-shaped chocolate cake, to which they applied pink icing and so many sprinkles.

For dinner, I grilled flap steak, which is served with a green onion (also grilled) walnut sauce. It’s a very solid recipe. Last year, Maya decided she wasn’t going to eat anything that “had fire on it,” and her tune has not changed since. She hates the smell of fire; birthday candles, fireworks, and barbecue joints all cause her to complain. She will not eat grilled food. Unbeknownst to me, earlier in the summer, Sean experimented by burying a single piece of grilled chicken amongst Maya’s non-grilled chicken as a test. Sure enough, she leaned into it, gave it a sniff, wrinkled her nose and announced that it smelled like fire and she wasn’t going to eat it.

While most of us were enjoying freshly grilled flap steak, Maya had T22 leftovers instead. We’ll keep working on her. Maybe she’ll eventually come around.

Cavern

On Friday, we had our big outing. We drove out to Natural Bridge Caverns. We weren’t sure how the weather was going to be (hot and sunny, as it turns out), and we could tour the caverns rain or shine, so we went for it. The kids loved it. The length of the tour was about 75 minutes, and I don’t remember ever getting the impression the kids were losing interest. They actually followed directions and kept their hands to themselves while in the cavern. Maya hiked the entire thing by herself, and Ian made it nearly to the end.

They brag about their 70 degree temp in the cave, but with nearly 100% humidity, we still felt a little gunky by the end. And then we walked out into the full sun. Nothing some nice lemonade couldn’t help fix though. Maya and Ian squished some pennies and picked up some interesting rocks for souvenirs. We had passed through Gruene on the way to Natural Bridge Caverns, so on the return trip, we swung into the Gristmill restaurant, a centerpiece of the town, and had a very late lunch / very early dinner that filled us up and kept us happy through the rest of the day.

Well, some of us are looking at the camera

Pop and Sean took Maya to her swim lesson in the morning on Saturday. Probably because Pop was along, Maya was on her best behavior and the lesson went really well! After playing at the house for a while, we took the kids to a friend’s birthday party in the afternoon. More playing with the grandparents while I grilled again – this time jerk chicken and mushrooms.

On Sunday, after some more hide-and-seek and lots of goodbyes, Lolli and Pop started their return trip to Alabama. The kids kind of moped their way through the afternoon, telling us they missed Lolli and Pop, and they’re already looking forward to visiting at Christmas time. I suspect the feeling is mutual.