The Patriots of Tennis vs. The Guardians of Love

It was a fairly full day today, and we even got to sleep in a little.  And there was a rainstorm as well squeezed in there.  We slept in until 8am, and got out the door to go to a dentist appointment.  Madison had a cavity on one of her baby teeth, but she'll still have it for a bit longer, so we had it filled this morning.  We were all dressed up to go out, because right after that, we went to the post office to get our passport pictures taken, and in Madison's case, get hers renewed.  Mommy and Daddy will be working on ours soon enough, but Madison wanted to have the right top on for her picture.  She was very particular about how it would turn out, as if it were a glamor shot!

We did some grocery shopping after that to make some Fourth of July dessert, something that Madison helped out with.  There are other desserts too - we'll be heading over to Nana and Ye-Ye's tomorrow for a little bit.

We went to play some tennis today, and used about two baskets of tennis balls working on returning serves and so forth.  Madison dressed up with her patriotic tennis cap.  Her team name was "the Patriots of Tennis."  Daddy's team name was "The Guardians of Love."  It was an epic match!  Okay, it wasn't that epic.  Madison was able to return quite a few serves though, and we did have some back and forth volleys.  It's been a bit since she's picked up a tennis racket, but she started getting the hang of it quickly again.  

As you can imagine, it got pretty hot out there, playing tennis mid-afternoon.  That's why we were ready to immediately jump in the pool after that.  Madison and Daddy swam for a bit, tossing sponge balls back and forth and doing laps across the length of the pool.  At one point, we had the whole pool to ourselves - I guess folks are away on vacation this weekend.

Not us.  We stayed home today, and were glad to do it.  The sun, even in the pool, can wear you down.  We returned home, and that's where we spent the rest of the day relaxing.  Mommy made dinner for us, and we spent time playing piano, reading, and playing video games for a bit.  As for the piano, the good news of the day is this:  Madison's teacher Mrs. Pam has figured a way to have one more year of playing for Madison and her classmates.  So this is going to be the post-graduate class, one more year of learning piano.  And it will be more serious, as the kids are getting more skilled.  As evidence of this, Madison is doing well on her summer song, "Amazing Grace."  She was practicing that one better and better this afternoon.

Our house is ready for the Fourth of July, isn't it?  We put out some decorations, made the food items, and tonight we watched "National Treasure," which Madison hasn't seen before.  She enjoyed it, and wants to watch part two tomorrow night.  She guessed some of the clues in the movie, interestingly enough.  She knew it was going to be the Declaration of Independence that they'd have to go after.  And when the movie mentioned the North Church, she knew all about that too.

We read from Rocket and Groot some more tonight, all while the skies were pounded around us with a relentless barrage of rockets red glare.  It's an amazing arsenal our neighborhood has, and I pity any enemy force that intends on invading us.  Low flying aircraft are especially in peril.

But it's a great sound, isn't it?  Tomorrow, we'll be out there watching some of the fireworks go off.  Our neighbors across the street have invited us to watch some fireworks they've purchased, so we'll bring over some sparklers and make an evening of it.  It should be another wonderful Fourth.