Family Fun for the Fourth

We had more visitors the weekend after Daddy and Marie! Matt's family - Paula, Maria and Elisa all came down for the weekend of the 4th. We had lots of fun activities planned.... and some that were not so planned! I'm just gonna go ahead and say - thanks, Maria, for some of these pics. I bootlegged them off of your myspace page! ha!

As everyone always does before company, Matt and I were running around trying to get everything ready for the family to come into town. Matt had been having games, so I had gotten the house ready for the most part and just asked him to vacuum real quick while I ran a couple last minute errands before they got here. Well, Uncle Matt always has something up his sleeve as a little surprise. I walk in the door with groceries and just start dying laughing... Matt took his chore and turned it into a Welcome Sign for his niece Elisa.... this, my friends, is why I love this man. Here's a picture of Elisa "inside" her welcome.We just hung around the apartment a little while everyone relaxed from the long car ride they had - Boston's kinda far from Louisville.... I love this picture. You can definitely see how happy Elisa is to see her Uncle Matt. This visit was definitely due. These two can't go too long without hanging out and having fun together... and of course. Dixie has to be right in the middle of it all!

And in case you're wondering, Dixie and Elisa got along beautifully! They are cousins you know, says Elisa. Dixie was pretty worn out at the end of the visit, but let Elisa carry her around like a doll, change her clothes and even put her in timeout! As a matter of fact, Elisa had so much fun changing Dixie's clothes (since she has so many!) that she even decided they were about the same size so she needed to try on one of her shirts. I mean after all, it is Elisa's favorite color too!

We headed out to the a Fourth of July festival later that night to watch fireworks... but it doesn't get dark til so later here - 9:30 - that we just couldn't quite make it until 10:30 for the fireworks show... so we did our own sparklers when we got home!

The next day, the Bats had a ball game and Matt had to work, so everyone went! As you can tell, Elisa was excited to see Uncle Matt every time he came up for a quick visit between running around the clubhouse and getting everything ready for the team..

Oh - and Elisa loved the blue sno cone.... for some reason she kept dropping her spoon. I don't know why...

Day Three was good times too! We went to Six Flags... they have a Water Park there. And who doesn't love a water park?! Before we made it to the water, Uncle Matt and Elisa stopped and played a few games to try to win some of those awesome stuffed animals that are a MUST have... :-)

This was Elisa's prize from the duck game. She pulled the duck out of the water that had "Large Prize" on the bottom! She really wanted Bam Bam! So Uncle Matt decided that he would play too and maybe he could get her Pebbles... buuuuut he ended up with a small prize. So he got Dixie the pillow that describes her best. And yes, she knew it was hers as soon as we got home....

By far the most exciting event of the day was the wave pool! I think Elisa could have stayed in there all day. She even learned how to jump waves! And was not too happy when the lifeguards kept making everyone get out of the pool while they changed shifts. Seriously?

Fun times were had by all... even when I was totally stressed when Matt and Maria decided to get on a roller coaster. I know, I'm a party pooper, but I'm sorry, people get killed on those things... Needless to say, they made it out alive! Whew! Don't you want to come visit? We do cool things!