This morning Kyle and I finished unloading our luggage, so that we could get ourselves and the kids dressed in our patriotic clothes, while Debby made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Some of the pancakes she actually fried in the bacon fat and they weren’t bad.
After breakfast, I went with Dad and Debby to do some shopping. Debby needed to refill her water jugs, and get a few supplies for food for the weekend. Debby had asked Kyle and I to bring our ice cream maker, but we thought that we would just buy one for her when we got here. Then we got in so late we didn’t have a chance to buy one before meeting up with them. So we got an ice cream maker and a hat for Kyle. Kyle had asked me to pick up a hat for him since he forgot to bring his, and he needs it to keep his head from getting sunburned. We went to get the ice cream ingredients and the employees were stocking lots of EMPTY refrigerator shelves. There were NO refrigerated or frozen items for sale. The employee explained that there had been a power outage yesterday and everything in the fridges and freezers had to be thrown out and restocked. So Debby directed Dad to a different store, the HEB. There we got the ice cream ingredients and all of the rest of Debby’s refrigerated needs. They had samples of some watermelon soda. It was good, so we got some.
After we got back to Debby’s house, I helped Debby in the kitchen with preparing food for tomorrow, and Kyle and Jeff headed to the stadium to stake out a spot for watching the fireworks. While they were gone, I made the hashed brown casserole (which included shredded hashed browns, browned sausage, onions, peppers, cheese and eggs), and the baked french toast for breakfast. And I made up a batch of ice cream.
Then it was time to head to the stadium. There were lots of vendors just outside with food for sale. The HEB store actually had several booths, passing out free stuff. First the kids got free hats, bandanas, paper fans, and rubber bracelets. Then everyone got a free soda or water bottle, and then everyone got to choose a free chocolate or vanilla ice cream cup. Now that the kids were loaded down with all kinds of spoils we took them to the blankets that Kyle and Jeff had laid out for our group earlier.
Dad took mom and I back to go get some food for dinner, while Kyle stayed to watch all the kids. Dad gave me the assignment of getting the corn dogs. They didn’t have any regular sized corn dogs left by the time it was my turn to order, they only had foot long corn dogs for $6 each! I had to go get some more money from Dad and get back in line in order to get enough corn dogs for those that had asked for them. Dad got some tacos, and mom got a pizza, and I think Jeff joined up and was the one that stood in line to get the funnel cakes covered in fruit toppings.
We got back to the group and got dinner served. Then I went to pull the bottle out of the diaper bag for Seth. But it wasn’t in there! Turns out mom had taken it out and set it on the counter at the house, thinking that she would make it visible to remind me to grab it. But I had asked someone else to take the bag to the van because that was where I had put it. So the bottle didn’t make it to the stadium with us, and I had NOTHING to feed Seth. 🙁 I did give him some of the ice cream, thank goodness for those. And we tried to give him some of the other stuff, but it just wasn’t dinner to him. Needless to say, he was quite cranky for most of the evening.
There was a band that played music, and when it got dark the fireworks started. Eventually Chloe and Lydia announced that they needed to go potty so Kyle took them to find a bathroom and ended up missing the band playing the 1812 overture, complete with cannons that some army member shot off to the music. That was really awesome. Dad told some of the kids that the last time he hear the 1812 overture with cannons was before I was born.
When the music and fireworks were all done, we went back to Debby’s house. We got back way faster than Debby and Jeff did. That may have had something to do with the fact that we were parked in the handicap section, and were therefore a lot closer to the stadium. So we got back to the van faster and therefore got out of the parking lot sooner. While we sat in their driveway, we played some Weird Al songs for Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma liked Tacky, and I thought they would enjoy Skipper Dan being from Anaheim and being well acquainted with the Jungle Cruise ride, and Ethan really wanted to share Jurassic Park with them. Grandpa definitely recognized that tune!
Debby and Jeff finally made it home and Grandpa and Grandma went back to their hotel for the night, and we are so ready for bed too. It has been such a long day, and somehow I didn’t take any pictures! Just goes to tell you just how crazy busy the day was!