We celebrated the actual 4th of July a week ago with my parents in Texas, where it was pouring rain and the Lubbock fireworks display was cancelled, so we watched the New York and Boston fireworks on TV. That was a little disappointing, since we only get to be in the U.S. every other summer for the 4th. But it turns out, God had another plan. For whatever reason, the towns up here in Connecticut each have their own 4th of July celebrations on various nights around, but not necessarily on, the actual 4th! My in-laws hometown had their celebration Friday night, but I was too sick to go. However, another town just north of here had their fireworks display and concert last night, so David and I decided we'd give it a try to take Sarah out past her bedtime so we could allenjoy the celebration!
Sarah had an absolute blast! I really think she probably had the most fun of her entire short life last night. Here she is playing with her uncle Shawn, David's youngest brother, and his girlfriend Angela.
We all sat out on this huge lawn with several thousand other people, and enjoyed some great food from local restaurants as well as an orchestra concert of the traditional patriotic tunes.
Sarah loved the music during the concert. She danced and danced, bouncing up and down and even waving her arms back and forth like an orchestra conductor (a funny coincidence--we weren't close enough to actually see the conductor so we're pretty sure she wasn't imitating anything she'd seen before).
The temperature was pretty comfortable, but it was humid--so that's why we all look shiny and sweaty in these pictures.
Some of our neighbors on the lawn entertained Sarah with their bubble guns.
Sarah LOVED the bubbles. LOVED.
She loved them so much, that another neighbor on the lawn actually came up and handed us a small bottle of bubbles for us to play with. This lady was a little strange, but giving us the bubbles was really nice. Then, however, she wanted to give Sarah some cotton candy. The first time she asked if she could give Sarah some cotton candy, the lady was standing several feet away and I just pretended not to hear her. Then, she came up directly in front of me and asked, so I accepted the cotton candy. I am probably paranoid, but I just didn't feel comfortable feeding my child something handed to me by a total stranger, and a strange stranger at that. So I stood between her and Sarah (who David was holding) and pretended to give Sarah the cotton candy, but really ate it myself. I also gave some to David to eat. Later, I was saying that I was just being cautious on the highly improbable chance she'd put drugs or poison or something in the cotton candy. David, of course, asked, "If you thought the cotton candy was poisoned, why did you give some to me to eat? You thought it would be better if both Sarah's parents got poisoned, not just one?" He had a point. :)
Well, there were no drugs or poison in the cotton candy, thankfully, and we all went on to enjoy the fireworks display. I love this photo of David and Sarah watching the fireworks together.
All in all, it was a very fun, very American, 4th of July celebration on July 11! I am so glad we got to experience it together with our family here in Connecticut!
Check out this beautiful little dress my mother-in-law Barb made for Sarah!
I love the green floral print, and my favorite is the big bow in the back. Such a classic, feminine little girl's dress. I love it.
Sarah had an absolute blast! I really think she probably had the most fun of her entire short life last night. Here she is playing with her uncle Shawn, David's youngest brother, and his girlfriend Angela.
We all sat out on this huge lawn with several thousand other people, and enjoyed some great food from local restaurants as well as an orchestra concert of the traditional patriotic tunes.
Sarah loved the music during the concert. She danced and danced, bouncing up and down and even waving her arms back and forth like an orchestra conductor (a funny coincidence--we weren't close enough to actually see the conductor so we're pretty sure she wasn't imitating anything she'd seen before).
The temperature was pretty comfortable, but it was humid--so that's why we all look shiny and sweaty in these pictures.
Some of our neighbors on the lawn entertained Sarah with their bubble guns. 
Sarah LOVED the bubbles. LOVED.
She loved them so much, that another neighbor on the lawn actually came up and handed us a small bottle of bubbles for us to play with. This lady was a little strange, but giving us the bubbles was really nice. Then, however, she wanted to give Sarah some cotton candy. The first time she asked if she could give Sarah some cotton candy, the lady was standing several feet away and I just pretended not to hear her. Then, she came up directly in front of me and asked, so I accepted the cotton candy. I am probably paranoid, but I just didn't feel comfortable feeding my child something handed to me by a total stranger, and a strange stranger at that. So I stood between her and Sarah (who David was holding) and pretended to give Sarah the cotton candy, but really ate it myself. I also gave some to David to eat. Later, I was saying that I was just being cautious on the highly improbable chance she'd put drugs or poison or something in the cotton candy. David, of course, asked, "If you thought the cotton candy was poisoned, why did you give some to me to eat? You thought it would be better if both Sarah's parents got poisoned, not just one?" He had a point. :)
Well, there were no drugs or poison in the cotton candy, thankfully, and we all went on to enjoy the fireworks display. I love this photo of David and Sarah watching the fireworks together.
All in all, it was a very fun, very American, 4th of July celebration on July 11! I am so glad we got to experience it together with our family here in Connecticut!
Sarah is so different these days than she was a little over a month ago when we left Asia. Probably the biggest change is Sarah's vocabulary has just exploded! This happened to our friends the Huffmans' daughter Emma Grace when she went back to the U.S. at about the same age--17 months-ish--so I don't know if its just the age she's at or hearing English all the time or what, but Sarah has become quite the little talker!
Her speaking began in earnest the week before we left Asia when she spoke her first "word" besides "mama" "daddy" and "hi": "guk." Now I realize "guk" is not a real word, but she would point to her cup and say it, over and over, so we figured out that "guk" was Sarah's first word, sort of. Since we've been back in the U.S. she's added: cracker, juice, eyes, teeth, ears, hair, nose, toes, shoes, clothes, towel, chair, cars, bunny, diaper ("bupper" actually), and probably a few other nouns I can't think of right now.
In addition, just in the last week or so, Sarah has started saying "no." This was not my favorite word for her to learn, but I guess its necessary for development. So far, she hasn't used it to refuse anything too serious, but again, this is not my favorite development!
She also says "All done!" when she is eating, but I think she bases her evaluation more on boredom than hunger, because she will often say "all done!" and get down from her high chair, only to ask for more food. So I think "all done" is more about wanting to get down and run around than actually being done with her meal. So we will need to work on this a little.
These are pictures of Sarah dancing on the sofa with her hairbrush in her mouth. Isn't she hilarious??
Just today, Sarah added another word to her vocabulary: "again." Actually, she just says "gain," but her meaning is clear--do whatever entertaining thing you were just doing again!! Boy, is she learning how to have her opinion heard!
Its been really fun seeing Sarah learning so many new things and having her grandparents around to see it with us! We just left Texas to come to Connecticut 3 days ago, so it was sad to have to say goodbye to my family, but we have had a wonderful reunion with David's folks and brother. More pics coming soon!
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