Since Steve has the summer off we decided to make a huge trip out of my brother's wedding and our Clark family reunion. Seriously a whole month of driving and seeing family and friends and it all kicked off on the fourth of July! Yes, I insisted on red, white and blue for our clothes even though we would be sitting in the car for the majority of the day.
We tried to break the trip up into manageable yet fun legs so on Day 1 we headed towards Klamath Falls, Oregon. It is a small town but promised a great fireworks show for the fourth--a definite must.
All things considered, the kids did great in the car. For the first hour I was the greatest being that ever existed having doled out new Mickey coloring books, sketch pads and brand new crayons with sharp tips. That joy and love didn't last too long though. Vivian loved just looking at books. So easy. Henry liked coloring but preferred playing on the leap pad and watching movies on the dvd player.
We planned on just plowing through on the drive, we even ate lunch in the care and made it to Oregon in good time. We even stopped to take a picture while Vivian freaked out in the car. What a pain to get everyone out for each little thing so she stayed put.
We got to the hotel and it smelled like BO. After some airing out it got better but there was still a lingering foot smell. Henry and I got into our swimsuits and headed to the indoor pool while Steve tried to put Vivian down for a nap. The plan was for her to nap while we swam so we could all stay up late for the fireworks.
He set up the pack n play, placed her in it and hid between the two beds in the room waiting for her to fall asleep. She screamed unhappily and then proceeded to climb out and surprise Steve with her new trick. Ta da! He put her back in and she showed him how she climbed right out. And so began the epic sleep struggle of the next 27 days.
Apparently near our hotel the only restaurant open for the holidays was McDonalds. Sigh. To Henry's delight and Vivian's too, we ate chicken nuggets for dinner. Actually we lucked out because it was in the parking lot of our hotel and our meal ended up being free because of computer problems. Sweet.
At this point we were just killing time until the fireworks started. We got the kids in their pjs with the hopes of them falling asleep on the way back to the hotel--actually Vivian did fall asleep on the way back. We left the hotel around 9:00 pm and wove our way into the city to find a good place for viewing. Small town or not, there were a lot of people camped out for the show and everyone had sparklers and smaller fireworks. It was really fun and the excitement was infectious. We set up our blanket in a field surrounded by people and ate snacks, played with some glow stick things I had brought and watched the pre-show.
The fireworks display was amazing and really long. We actually couldn't even stay for the whole thing because Vivian kept wandering away--not tired at all! We watched for about thirty minutes and then left early. The evening was cool so we were all bundled up which was a nice change from the heat of the summer. Henry even sat in my lap for a bit huddled inside my sweatshirt and I explained what a grand finale was which we never stayed to see.
Back at the hotel we placed a sleeping Vivian in her pack n play and covered her up so we could still be awake without disturbing her. And remember this picture and imagine it in every hotel we stay in for the rest of the month... except this is the ugliest bedspread of the trip.
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