Fourth of July

I had an interesting Fourth of July this year. First of all, I was just excited not to have to go to school (love those holidays!). When I was in North Carolina in June, I bought a video camera from Best Buy. It was a spur of the moment decision because I didn't have one with me and my husband wanted me to get one (yes, I blame him).

I used it a few times, but I wasn't too thrilled with the low lighting settings. Everytime I filmed something inside it turned out grainy and dark. The salesperson told me that I had 30 days to return it. I joked with my mom that I could use it on my trip and then return it when I got back home to my older camera. I really meant it as a joke only.

I found my receipt on Tuesday night. I had one day left to return it! After watching the footage on the TV, my mind was made up. I lugged the kids out, in 112 degree weather, to Best Buy to buy a cable to take off the little that I did have on tape. While I was there, I was suckered into buying a camera that was an additional $500. It turns out that the salesperson in NC was incorrect, I really had 14 days to return cameras. They told me that if I was purchasing another camera they would let me do it.

The next part cracked me up. Recently I have opted not to buy the extended warranties. I think I have wasted more on them than it would have cost me to fix a few little things. HOWEVER, it seems they have this accidental policy now. She told me that if a drink spilled on it, it was run over by a car, etc. then it would be replaced free of charge (within 4 years). Then she asked me if I wanted it. I turned around, looked at those three little deviously smiling kids and promptly said (yelled is more like it) YES!

My original plan was to go home, feed the kids, put them to bed, copy the movies from the other camcorder, and then run back to Best Buy to return it before Noe went to work. That didn't work. It took me a bit longer than expected to figure out the complex nature of my recorder when taking video from a camera. Then I wanted to show Noe my new camcorder, when I realized SHE GAVE ME THE WRONG ONE! I called her back and they didn't have anymore in stock. Have I ever mentioned I have zero tolerance for things not going my way? While she was talking to me about my options, I was looking at amazon.com to see what the ratings were for that camera. I found that I could get a better model for less than the lower one at Best Buy. Since I was returning a camera, I had to buy it there or pay a restocking fee. After letting her know my feelings, she price matched them. She took $220 off of their price.

There were only two problems now. One, I had to get my kids up from their naps and take them BACK to Best Buy to return the camcorder and order the new one. Second, I have to wait until next Tuesday to get my new one in the mail. Oh well! I am excited. Let's just hope that I picked a good one!

While I was out and about, my aunt offered to go with me to see the fireworks. YIKES! I hadn't planned on going, I planned on continuing my horrible parenting and making my kids watch the fireworks on TV. I tried for 3 years in a row to get to the fireworks in Las Vegas. No matter how early we left, we were ALWAYS stuck watching them from the highway where we would be stuck. This year I just couldn't imagine trying to take 4 kids to the fireworks alone, so it wasn't even going to be an option until she called. Now we were going! This time we were going to try the ones out by my house. They are smaller, but we thought we might have better luck!

It couldn't have been easier. We drove right over to a park, parked the car, and found a spot on the park's lawn. That was too easy! Don't worry, the easiness of that stopped right there. The kids were great...






That is great until those seatbelts came off. I learned a very important lesson that night. NEVER dress your kids in dark clothing when going out at night! Our whole family was wearing red, white, and blue Old Navy t-shirts. Matthew, the less mobile one, was wearing white. He was pretty easy to see. Leigha was also wearing white, which saved my life. Unfortunately, Robert was in NAVY BLUE and Noah was in red. Noah and Robert enjoyed their freedom, I am not sure we enjoyed their freedom though. Aunt Bobbie, Leigha, and I were running after them constantly. I could hear Robert saying "hi" to EVERYONE!






Thanks to my aunt, we had a wonderful evening! Too bad it was a school night!