4th of July 2008!

Benjamin had a big day on the 4th of July. To start the day, we went swimming at Uncle Kendall's apartment complex and had a picnic lunch with him. It was Ryan's 1st time swimming with Benjamin and he didn't realize that an inflatable floaty thing is not a life preserver. Within minutes of being in the pool, Ryan had left Benjamin unaccompanied on the floaty bug and Benjamin promptly flipped backwards and got waterlogged. Ryan spent the rest of the time in the pool trying to convince him that the bug was okay.

We rushed home to get a nap in and then headed to Roseblatt Stadium for a barbecue hosted by STRATCOM. Benjamin tried to eat a piece of watermelon rind and all before Ryan stopped him. A school bus unloaded some people who came to see the game and Benjamin wanted to go see the bus. Ryan asked the driver if she minded them walking through the bus. Benjamin loved sitting on the bus and looking around. Benjamin also seems to really like girls. He followed a 6 year old around for a WHILE!!! She would sit down on the curb, he'd sit down RIGHT next to her, she'd move away a few feet, he'd get up and plop right down next to her, and so it went on and on.
Benjamin was also wowing the 20 month old daughter of Glen, a guy Ryan works with. He also spent some time entertained by 2 teenage girls at the top of the stands who were dancing for him and filming him on their phone.
Amazingly, Benjamin sat through all 9 innings of the baseball game. We had some books and a few toys, but were really blessed that there were 3 open seats next to us and he didn't have to sit in our laps the entire game. The Royals lost 2-4, but it was a fun game.
The fireworks didn't start for 1.5 hours after the game and were delayed even longer b/c of someone parked in the fallout zone. Benjamin got a little manic, but I bribed him to stay seated with a package of Smarties candy. He was intrigued by the fireworks, but got a little tired by the end. We really should have taken ear plugs because between the blaring music and the exploding fireworks, it was really loud. I spent most of the time covering Benjamin's ears.

I had read a news article about how to set up a camera to shoot fireworks displays and it seems to have worked. Ryan took photos of the display. He has a really steady arm b/c the shutter speed was set at 10 seconds at first then lowered to 5 seconds. The photos are amazingly clear for not having anywhere to set the tripod.

We didn't get to the car until 2330ish and then had to wait a while to get driving so it was a really late night for us. Benjamin did fall asleep in the car and slept in until 0730 this morning. He was even happy when he woke up this morning, so there wasn't too much damage from the late night.