4th of July

The 4th of July is one of the Heinisch family's favorite holidays.  Not only is it Independence Day it is also Doug's birthday. As his birthday is always a holiday he has a few days with us to celebrate and relax.  I've enjoyed them all, but today was one of my favorites as all of the Heinisch family were under one roof.  After lunch we were able to finally give him all of the gifts we had been hiding around the house - Meg had a Cubs shirt to give him and Cal had a Bears one as well.  Doug had been wanting some running shorts and Brett was happy to make that his gift to him.  My favorite gift was the heavy duty, non kink, 100 foot hose.  What Dad wouldn't want that for his birthday?  Cam and I made that our gift to him.

In the afternoon Doug and Cal were able to hang out and play some tennis.  The rest of us went with my Dad to see the musical Grease at the Round Barn theater in Nappanee.  Both groups had a great time.  Cal, Brett, Cam and I were also able to play a game of Jedi Unleashed, one of our favorites from years gone by that Cameron never really got a chance to enjoy.  The older two boys and I used to spend every snow day playing it together.  Brett, of course, destroyed us, but agreed to a rematch for tomorrow.

We invited my parents for dinner and had pork chops and hamburgers topped off with the delicious cake above.  I promised to save a few pieces for Cal when he got home as he had to work tonight.  After dinner we all played croquet in which Doug won for the first time this summer.  Meg, Cam and I had purchased some fireworks on an interesting trip to Wal-Mart last week.  They all had fun setting them off and no fingers or toes were lost during the evening.

It was awesome to spend the day celebrating Doug and doing what he enjoys best - family time.  The next couple of months will be very busy.  It was great to have one day all to our own.