Bomb Bomb!!!

I love taking pictures of the kiddos, so I can record their life, but they hate it. I always post the few pictures we get of them smiling. This is not a true depiction of the Ruiz kids when they see a camera. It takes much bribing, reprimanding and begging on my part to get them to even look at the camera much less give me a smile. The 4th was right on par with a typical photo shoot. A BEATING!!

Here they are refusing to look at me, but Caleb giving me the fake cheese smile.

Still refusing to look at me and my attempt at bribing them with flags.

The bribing attempt failed as usually and Makaylee is now pitching a fit, because I took the flag away. When she wasn't whacking her brother with it, she was enjoying its nice pine taste.

Daddy came to save the day and got the kids laughing, but Caleb is still doing his best to withstand making this a successful event.

Finally he succumbed to Daddy's comedy act and gave us the huge grin I love.

Here is the one picture I usually get in the mist of a hundreds that keep me blogging. 

We spent the 4th at the Carnegie Science Center in the city, giving us front row tickets to the amazing fireworks.

The view was amazing from the roof, but it was extra loud. Sissy got a little scared and Caleb said the fireworks hurt his ears, but once we covered them they were all smiles.

We had to kill time after the show to not get stuck in the sea of red lights, so we had fun touring some of the exhibits.

Watching the robot was fascinating.

The train exhibit is amazing. Forbes Park replica. They used 23,000 Q-tips to represent the people watching the game.

We waited for an hour hoping traffic would lighten up and headed to the car around 11:15. A very long day after Idlewild and no naps.  Makaylee feel fast a sleep in her car seat and missed the 45 minutes sitting in the parking lot waiting to get to the road. Caleb however, overly tired and ready for his comfy bed lost it completely screaming and crying until he wore himself out. It was a fun day, but I am telling you this mommy thing is not for the faint at heart.  As we sat I thought about what this day is about and all the mommies who have sent their loved ones off to fight for this great country. It brings tears of thankfulness and reminds me to treasure every moment we get to experience this amazing freedom with our families even the times that seem difficult.

Independence Day

I want to start out by thanking the brave people throughout history who have fought for my freedom. I love this country and know it is such a blessing that I'm free. I also want to thank my 5th grade teacher Mr. Collins for fighting in World War II and loving children enough to teach us that freedom wasn't free and many sacrificed much. He also made us aware that many great nations were destroyed by following bad leaders.


Cory had a publicity thing for work, so we all went to the Carnegie Science Museum for the 4th. It was so much fun. They had many great attractions for the kids. It was so cute watching the kiddos ride around together on this fun little rocket thing. Makaylee surprisingly only flirted with getting dumped a couple times.
Caleb loved this water fountain and it was pretty fascinating how the water could juggle balls. Caleb really thought it was fun to throw the ball and get it in the whole. He celebrated every time.
There was an area for under 6 that had a number of fun exhibits for the kiddos.

Their water exhibit was amazing and it simulated a river and the flow of water.
There was a conveyor belt that the kids could put balls in and it would move to the top until it was full and then like rain would dump the balls. They loved this exhibit, it brought big smiles to both their faces.

We watched the fireworks on the river on an old Submarine.


It was the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen and the kids absolutely loved it. Caleb kept saying over and over, "Yeah Baby."