July 4th Party - Hamburgerfest 2014

For the first time in a while, we celebrated our Fourth of July party on that date. Sometimes we do it for lunch, but this time it was for dinner, and it coincided with the Brazil-Colombia World Cup match, which was fun. Ian could sense with all the cleaning and cooking and table clothes that something was up. Although he's been going to bed at 8pm lately, he was having none of that on July 4th; he wanted to see what all the preparation was for. When Nora was one year old, she hated parties, needing to spend the entire party in a parent's arms, preferably in a quiet room away from all the strangers. She's gotten a lot better now that she's five, however, and spent the party building a fort in the living room. Ian, however, was actively seeking out guests to play with. I heard that at one point a guest was actually swinging him by his feet upside down, much to Ian's delight. He's gonna be a real party animal, I think.

Plus, as a curious toddler who always needs to have an eye kept on him, he was the center of attention for the whole party, which seemed to suit him just fine.

"Excuse me, is there a party going on in here?"

As usual, my hamburgers were a hit.

Happy attendees.

The chef's burger.

Nora liked hers, too.

At some point during the evening, Ian found the trash can full of empty beer cans and saw them as perfect objects to play with.

I missed the instant where he raised it to his lips as if to drink.

Ian helped in the dismantling of Nora's fort the next morning.

Over all it was a great success, and I'm looking forward to next year!