happy 4th of July!

We had a quiet day, full of stereotypical all-American pleasures: baseball, bike rides, four-square, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, ripe cherries, and a berry-studded flag cake.

We spent the morning playing sports at the field - we set up a baseball diamond and took turns hitting, pitching, and playing the field - which seemed very July 4th-ish to me except for the fact that it was 8 am, very chilly, and we were on a turf soccer field. But we had fun - Liesl loves to bat and run the bases and we all scored multiple home runs. Then we started to play soccer and some school friends arrived - Seb's friend Jack and his younger brother Ryan, who Liesl really enjoys. The older two played soccer, soccer, and yet more soccer. The younger two biked around, compared gymnastics moves, and pretended to be characters from Paw Patrol who solved mysteries.

Liesl and I baked a buckwheat berry flag cake together - we embedded the strawberries and blueberries in the cake before baking it, and then after I disastrously dropped part of the cake on the table while taking it out of the pan, we covered it in whipped cream and a second layer of berries in flag rows. (Ack!!!) 

Liesl cut all of these strawberries into slices by herself, using a kid-safe knife we recently bought, and then placed them on the cake herself (she did it all twice, below the whipped cream and above!). She was very proud.

Why yes, that's a Canada shirt she's wearing, on July 4th. I told her this morning that she should wear red white and blue for the holiday, and this was the tshirt she picked. Far be it from me to dissuade her: I was too tickled!

 (dropped cake. ack.)

 Steve and Liesl for the save!

Sebastian read another 5 books in the afternoon (I exaggerate, but only slightly - the boy is on a summer reading tear) and played tennis/racquetball with Steve while Liesl and I did an 8 mile bike ride along the Rock Creek trail in NW Beaverton. The sun finally came out and it was gorgeous to be rolling along and chatting together. We arrived home and had burgers and corn and tomatoes and spinach-strawberry salad for dinner: it was perfect. And then after dinner, we played on the street with the neighbor children: four-square, hopscotch, frisbee and football throwing, bean bag tossing.