live...laugh...love...: 4th of July... Part 1

So we started our fun celebration of 4th of July Fun with our Friday Funday... which, thankfully, got to include Chuck (YEA... no work for him today, it was their holiday off!) So last Saturday, Chuck went to the library where he secured a pass for 4 of us to get into the Arizona Science Center for free (so we paid for one kid only... can't beat that deal!). He decided we should use it for when he had off work (which was today... Friday).

We took the Light Rail over to Phoenix and enjoyed a ride on that (I've never been... but the kids and Chuck had been once). It was fun! Maddy enjoyed getting to stand up while driving.

(Thanks Macee for taking our picture)

When we got to the Science Center we had a great time going from exhibit to exhibit. After we were done we asked the kids what their favorite thing was...

Macee said, "The house... you know with the garden."

Maddy said, "All the hands on stuff."

Tyler said, "The thing with the pipes and balls."

I had fun sitting in the seat that you had to pull yourself up to the top using only your arm strength.

Chuck enjoyed the tug-o-war... such a boy at heart! I love it!

A few other fun things...

The Lego exhibit... all on a castle theme.

This screen they could go behind and "catch" the falling stuff... it was cool to watch it from the shadow side.

And one last favorite of mine was the computer program that had you take your picture right there at the computer and edit it! Don't Macee and I look CRAZY???

When we were done with the Science Center, we were hot, thirsty and hungry, so we found a Starbucks nearby and used the otherwise useless giftcards on some expensive water, cookies and a yummy smoothie (hey, but it was all free to us!). Everyone was happy again and off we were to catch the Light Rail back to the main station and head for home.

When we got home, Macee took a nap, I baked cookies and the others rested and played Tetris on the TV for the afternoon and then we went to the drive-ins with the Mortensens! We saw UP and The Proposal. It was super fun. What was really fun was the storm that blew in and we watched the movie from under easy-ups (one between the vehicles and one over the back of the Mortensen's truck). They worked out nice. Grandma Mortensen and Lance even showed up to watch UP with us! It was fun and we love to go to the drive-ins! You can't beat getting a family of 5 in for under $15 AND see 2 movies AND you don't have to smuggle your food into the theater in an over-sized purse!

So... pictures of everyone BEFORE the storm hit!