The Fourth!

We celebrated the Fourth of July this year at the Kovac's house with swimming, great food, and lots of fun.

Check out the snazzy hair-do (braided pig-tails left in overnight)!

Max made it his mission to pull up and replant the flags.

Swimming!

Chris and Max giving Michael and Henry tips on jumping into the pool.

Poolside tea party (with Stella serving tea on Scarlett's head).

Max, not deterred by the giant hat covering his entire face, digs around in the candy bowl for treats.

Next challenge:  finding his mouth (note that he has one lollipop in use and another one ready as backup; you can never be too prepared).  

Max loved this ride in the Kovac's backyard.

Chris looking like some strange combination of Yankee Doodle and Willie Wonka.

Henry and Scarlett rocking their crazy headbands.  (And Henry rocking sans pants.)

Trying to get a group photo with a 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 year old where everyone looks at the camera at the same time with a pleasant look on their face is a challenge to say the least.  Here's what I ended up with instead.

Take 1 -- The Dramatic Patriot:  Everyone is looking the right way except Scarlett, who is too busy theatrically waving her flag.

Take 2 -- The Scream:  Scarlett is almost completely obscured by her flag in this one, and hardly anyone is looking at the camera for that matter, but I love Henry's expression (made all the more poignant by his outfit (or lack thereof)).

Take 3 -- The Keeper:  This is probably the best one I got, although Max has moved on to something more interesting (like pulling up flags along the sidewalk) and has been replaced by Mark, and Chris's face is mostly covered up by the giant hat thanks to Michael's bunny ears.

Take 4 -- The British Are Coming!:  All hell starts to break lose, at least as far as Scarlett is concerned.  We announced it was time to leave, and you would have thought that Scarlett just determined that the Declaration of Independence had a typo in it and we were going back under British rule based on a technicality.  (Translation:  MAJOR MELTDOWN.)

Hope your Fourth of July was so much fun that you didn't want it to end either!

A Toast to the Coast (Part 3)

We rounded off our trip with a big family gathering and a trip to the Rockport Beach.

Here's Max and his Grandma, ready to party with the rest of the Schwegmann gang and friends at Hunt's.

Happy boy.

Sweet sister kisses.

Checking out the water from the new deck at Hunt's.

Posing with Mimi and Papa Tig.

Silly goose.

Scarlett and the ladies -- Aunt Brenda, Grandma, and Aunt Meg (and photo bomb by Mike).

Erin and Paul made a fishing tournament scoreboard for the kids to sign and comment on what they caught.  Here's Max and Scarlett signing their names with a little help from their Daddy.

Scarlett's comment said, "12 fish!"

Max's comment said, "Threw 12 perch back into the water!"  Coincidence?  (Although a more accurate description would have been something along the lines of "Threw four fish, ten bait shrimp, a bucket, a bottle cap, and attempted to throw anything else that wasn't nailed down into the water!"  But that was too long, so we kept it simple.)  

Fish face for the fishing tournament.

More Scarlett kisses.

Watching Uncle Greg man the grill.  He made some fish/chorizo concoction that was delicious.

Sneaking cake bites.  (Note the icing warpaint on Scarlett's cheek.)

Max making more silly faces, but this time with his Daddy.

Scarlett and Cousin Jordan.

Max eating Scarlett's cake while she was momentarily distracted, with Papa Tig as his accomplice.  Spoiler alert:  this did not end well.

Uncle Paul announcing the winners.

Scarlett collecting her trophy (which is currently proudly on display on the windowsill over the kitchen sink).

We spent the last day of our trip hanging out at the beach.

Here's some evidence that I was actually on the trip.

Here's Scarlett and the giant blue crab at the entrance to the Rockport Beach.  According to my giant crab internet research, this is a new crab that was unveiled last Labor Day, replacing another giant crab built in the 50s that sat on top of a local seafood restaurant.  It was a beloved landmark (Paw remembers it when he was a kid), but after it didn't fare so well in a few hurricanes and deteriorated beyond repair, it was taken down in 1976.  Some residents started a "bring back the giant crab" campaign a few years ago, and well, behold the new giant crab (and the toddler posing dramatically in front of it).  

Playing the guitar with Eric.

That wraps up our 2013 Rockport trip.  But wait!  Look!  Did Paw catch the giant trout that managed to get away from Chris that fateful night?  Is that a trout on his hook, or an old hat?  Is the elusive giant trout related to the giant crab?  Do giant trouts wear hats?  So many questions remain unanswered.

Until next time, Rockport.