This was Abby's first Fourth of July as an American citizen. Actually, it is one she will likely never remember. And it is definitely one I will never forget. Our plans weren't even that incredible. It was just such a fun weekend with her.

Abby's daycare was closed both Friday and Monday so we had a whole 4 days together. We kept them very full but the best part was just spending time with Abby. On Saturday, we met my mom, grandmother, and our friend Bryan for breakfast. This is a tradition for us. We meet in Cartersville GA as it is roughly halfway between Atlanta and Rome. Abby is already beginning to recognize that when we pull into the Cracker Barrel she will get to see her G.G., Mama Margaret, and Papa Bryan. While we were there, Abby proved once again how very much my daughter she really is. An older lady walked by us with the most bizarre shade of pink/orange hair. I realized I was blatantly staring. I looked down to see Abby was staring at the woman's head just as I was. To really complete the family thing - my mom and grandmother were, yes, also staring. Fortunately the poor woman was much more interested in the goings on of other restaurant patrons and was oblivious to our "glances".

Sunday (the actual Fourth) we started out the day with a trip to the zoo. For those of you who do not live in Atlanta, it has pretty much rained every day for the last month so this was our first time to the zoo in a little while. Sunday, we woke up to a large shock. At first it caused much confusion. What was this bright yellow thing in the sky? Slowly, the memory of the sun began to creep back. I very quickly decided to take full advantage. We had a great time. Did all the usual zoo stuff. Watched animals. Watched even more people. Rode the train. Rode the carrousel. The sweet life.

That night we went to downtown Decatur's Fourth of July parade, concert, and fireworks. Only we didn't so much make it to the fireworks part. When you usually go to bed at 7:00, staying up past 8:00 is a pretty big deal in and of itself. :-) Abby did love the parade and the music though. Oh, and the strawberry ice cream. Can't forget that.

Today when I picked up Abby from daycare, I found her teacher Ms. Kim sitting on the floor, surrounded by 1 year olds. This part is nothing new. When it is raining in the afternoon (as it was AGAIN today), Ms. Kim usually hangs out on the floor with her little ones. Today, however, Ms. Kim was banging a drum and singing/rapping "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" to the beat of that drum. All the kids were "dancing". I will never hear The Itsy Bitsy Spider in the same way again. For those of you wondering, this song to rap is quite cool. And extremely catchy. I have been rapping it in my head since we got home.

I'm so proud of my dancing little one. You should see her eat by herself now. I mean she has been using her fingers to eat for quite awhile now but suddenly last week, she really began to figure out that fork thing. She is quite good at stabbing her food with it and even making it to her mouth with the majority of food on the fork. Not bad! Today, she decided the whole plate thing was just inhibiting her, so she dumped all her food on the high chair tray and proceeded to eat it that way - all mixed together. Now as long as she gets most of it in her, I don't care, but I should mention that the food she had so happily mixed together included bananas, green beans, and chicken. Mmmm hmmm. That is what I thought too. But hey, she liked it. Perhaps she is the next culinary genious of the world.

OK, well, one of my still remaining guilty pleasures - The Amazing Race - starts tonight and I still have dishes and clothes and all the usual night time stuff to do before it comes on, so for now I will sign off. Abby's sign off is the blowing of many kisses so I will leave you with that image.