July 4 with Kaity

Thursday:  

Happy 248th Birthday, U.S.A.!!! 

That's about as "4th of July" as I get as far as any celebration is concerned. When the boys were young, we used to meet friends downtown on the lawn of the Gerald R. Ford Museum. We always had such a fun time down there. I haven't really been downtown for fireworks in a very long time--I think since 9/11 happened--I don't like huge public celebrations anymore--not to be paranoid, but ... kind of.

Kaity and I had our regular time today, except Altitude was only open from 10-2pm since it was the holiday. Instead of going there, we did something else--I'll get to that in a minute.

When I picked Kaity up from Jesse, they were excited to show me their renovated 2nd bathroom, which is now Kaity's exclusively! It turned out so nice, and I could tell how pleased Kaity was about the whole thing. She is growing up so fast now, and bathrooms for girls are ... kind of personal and special too. It's where we ladies get ready to go any place--fix our hair, fuss over what we are wearing, etc. Kaity's ready for all of that. Good job, Jesse!

We came over to my place where Kaity caught me up on all the latest short videos she has been watching and doing some dancing to. We played FIVE games of UNO: I won 2 of them and Kaity won THREE. They were good games though! We are getting to be quite experts at the game.

At about 6:45, we decided to go to Dwight Lydell Park for a little walk. Kaity did a bunch of climbing, and then we went down to the creek for awhile. 

Here are the pictures from our time together:

Back in the day, when Kaity was a little bit younger, this was a very frequent playground for us! Being TWELVE does change things up somewhat--but Kaity is a very physical person--she is good at climbing and running and jumping--so it's good for her to do that when she can!

I used to swing with Kaity years and years ago--but vertigo really kicks in for me when I do that; so I haven't been swinging for a few years now. Kaity still enjoys it, so that's good. Plus, I don't have to push her anymore.

I had most fun down by the creek (naturally). I did not have my water shoes with me, so I didn't get into the stream today. Plus, I've been in Physical Therapy now for almost 4 weeks and am just beginning to get better motion in my left hip--so I didn't want to risk the slippery rocked surfaced of the creek bed. Kaity, however, had no such compunctions and in she went!

I love these pictures of you, Kaity! She wanted me to snap her in a "Spiderman" pose ...

This is the best I could do! I'm not sure Kaity will think this are good enough, but they are fine to post here.

I love this place so much. It's one of my happy places--and at least I don't have to drive 45 minutes to get there (i.e. Muskegon or Grand Haven).

After we finished our walking and exploring, I drove Kaity over to Diana's by about 8:00; however, it turns out that they are not going to be shooting off fireworks until 9:30 tonight over in her backyard, so Kaity requested that I return her to Jesse and they could come together later on.

This is a tree/bush full of berries by Diana's driveway ... so pretty.