Jessica, hot days, and 4th of July at Daytona

Our next big event after Father's day weekend was a surprise car parade to celebrate Jessica's birthday. Of course the kids wanted to go to see Kai. Jimmy actually managed to keep the whole thing a secret as he contacted Jessica's friends through texts. The cars met at the gate outside of their neighborhood then drove in at the same time, blasting different songs from the 80s. (Jimmy requested Madonna's "Holiday" for the first car, which we did. Since only a few friends were available to show up, we drove by a second time to blast "West End Boys" by the Pet Shop Boys...yes, Kraig has these available on demand in his car.)

Jimmy got Jessica to go outside by suggesting he take photos of her and Kai, who was wearing a new "formal" outfit. She was shocked to hear the music and see her friends slowly drive by. The kids blew bubbles out of the windows to make it feel more festive.

We then parked and all went out to their backyard to hang out for a while. I didn't know how long we'd last before a kid had to go potty or a thunderstorm would arrive, but I think we were there at least an hour (before it started raining and we all had a quick "good bye"). As always, the kids loved entertaining Kai.

The kids have been great at entertaining themselves in the house, but sometimes they seem to be too good at it. So we've tried to make an effort to get them out to do at least one thing when we can. Unfortunately, we've had a string of days with feel-like temperatures reaching over 100 degrees with lots of humidity. We tried to take a walk at a county park we hadn't visited before, and except for the nice view of Fort Matanzas across a field, the rest of it was just a non-eventful walk through full sun. The kids were uncomfortable and complained, so it was pretty much a fail. I didn't take any photos of them looking miserable.

Marineland Beach was just a few minutes south, so we drove there next to spend a little (more pleasant) time. We weren't dressed for swimming, but the kids liked playing on the rocks.

I just kept looking at the gorgeous colors in the sand and water and took a bunch of photos.

 I was trying to capture a reflection of the ocean in Ronan's sunglasses. It didn't really work, but I like this picture anyway.

The best remedy for heat like this is always the pool. We sometimes turned on the hose for them so they could play with the cool water as well.

  

For our Fourth of July celebration, we decided to attend a race at the Daytona International Speedway. We actually got the tickets before the COVID-19 numbers started spiking here. But with all the measures they were implementing (e.g., 5% capacity, assigned socially distanced seating), we decided to go for it. There was a storm just prior to the event, so for parts of it we were covered not only by face masks but by hats and plastic ponchos. (The first few photos are blurry here because I didn't notice that my camera had accidentally gotten switched to manual focus.) 

We were only in the stands for a few minutes when an announcement told everyone to go inside due to concerns about lightning. Luckily there was plenty of space inside the stadium (which is actually just covered, but open to the air on the sides). The rain delayed the start of the 2 hr. 40 min. race by about 45 minutes, but it also cooled off the air significantly, making it very pleasant to be outside.

To our surprise, a large fireworks show started as soon as the cars reached the final lap. (And I honestly missed the winner crossing the finish line because I was distracted!) It was a good race, and it was so nice (and important) to do something "regular" with the kids. We didn't want to risk staying in a hotel, so we just drove home after the race ended around 10 p.m. On the way home we were able to see random fireworks displays from the car.