Our celebrations for Independence Day 2020 were very different than what we’re used to. This is my favorite holiday along with Easter, and I try to go big each year, so it took a lot of stretching for me to find ways to make the week special with so many Covid limitations. We ended up having a lot of fun!
First we got things festive looking around the house with art projects.
Tanner really liked painting, with straws!
Dallin really liked it, too!
We went to Walmart to buy some clothes for Mom, Tanner, and Dallin. Mom really wanted to see how she looked so Tanner took some pictures. We couldn’t go into the changing rooms cuz of Covid, and there weren’t any mirrors around, so this is the only thing we could do!
Cool guys ready to celebrate in their new shirts!!
Can you see the great horned owl in the tree? This is our view from our balcony.
There it goes!!
Massage time for Mom!! Dallin really wanted to be a masseuse, so this is one way for him to do it!
Grandpa Papa and Grandma Nana came over for 4th of July. Tanner and Dallin showed them what they made at comic camp. Tanner gave his comic book to the grandparents for his birthday service. Dallin shared his Loget book, which was his school assignment.
We took a walk on the beach at Coronado. So beautiful!
Digging time!
Notice how Tanner’s hair is wet but not his shirt? That’s because he ducked his head into the water and flung his head back and out!
Fourth of July Day!! We began the day by going to the Naval Cemetery in Point Loma. We really like this place!
The first name on this tomb stone was David. So Jeremy and Tanner were admiring it because that’s both of their middle names.
Then Dallin photobombed their picture.
The last name on this stone was Nipple, and Dallin thought that was hilarious.
We took a nature walk by the lighthouse. The views from the cliff were beauitful!!
I felt like Lady Liberty at this special spot!
The lighthouse was closed due to Covid, but we enjoyed looking around the exterior.
Then we all headed over to Coronado to hang out with Matt, Johanna and Johanna’s parents! So that meant our gang altogether was 10 people!! Looking back, I’m realizing it was the biggest gathering we hosted all year.
We had so much fun! There were people everywhere, which felt SO good. We chatted and tanned on the sand and ate snacks. All the Zavoral boys played in the water a bunch, boogie boarding and playing catch in the waves.
Dallin found a spot about 30 feet away from our stuff and buried himself in the warm sand. He looked so comfy, we were sure he was asleep!
Johanna’s parents, Sandy and Dave brought their doggies! Tanner was in love with them right away.
Here’s an bird’s eye view of us at the beach that Dave took with his professional drone.
Then we went home and threw together a 4th of July dinner.
We didn’t have a lot of notice that we’d be getting together with a group, so there were some missing items and we didn’t really know where to set up our meal. With pandemic fashion, we just did things spur of the moment and had to make do with what we had. Things still turned out really nice!
This is is our attempt to make the condiments tray look like a flag. Not the best one we’ve done.
After dinner we walked down to the grass area to play Mulke. Tanner and Dallin each walked one of the dogs.
Mulke is a fun lawn game that Jomatta introduced us to. You try to knock wood pieces down for different points. It’s great for all ages and skillsets! Jeremy kept score on a whiteboard, because there is a lot of adding up scores each round. Tanner and Dallin won.
Dave got these shots of the whole group before his drone battery died.
Then we headed back to the house for dessert. I don’t know how, but somehow managed to serve homemade fruit pizza with pistachio gelatto from our local gelato shop. It was DELICIOUS!!
It’s just stripes. Not a picture of anything. I thought it looked so pretty!!
There weren’t any firework shows this year. But seeing everyone chilling in our home was the next best thing! It was especially heart-warming to have people in our home during the pandemic. This was a really treasured evening, a highlight of our entire year. The adults visited while the boys held and played with the doggies. Everything was so loving and tranquil.
Dallin crawled under the coffee table and fell asleep. We didn’t realize until people got up to leave and he didn’t move. Haha!
We extended celebrations throughou the week. We had red white and blue fruit kabobs for snack the next day.
We also got to meet up with cousin Shauna and her boyfriend. We all visited outside by the pool and kept physical distance.
I was able to make a flag taco salad. Yum!
And one of the best highlights of the week was watching the broadway recording of HAMILTON. The boys and I were hooked for weeks!! Such a great way to celebrate Independence Day, esp in lieu of all the social unrest that was occurring since George Floyd’s death. This production helped remind me why I love America so much and how I can help carry on the true legacy of finding liberty and justice for all.
