July 4th is just around the corner and we're getting ready with an all Americana themed playdate. We wrangled up Gavin, Mazzy, Harlow and Luke for a little summer time fun on the roof of our building decked in red, white and blue duds from Gymboree. Naturally I dreamt this play date would run smoothly and relaxed. HA! What a joke. These kids couldn't sit still for one second. They were running wild while my adorable set up was quite literally blowing off the roof. I tried to pack picnic items that the kids could eat while they were running wild. Watermelon on a stick was a no brainer. The kids thought they were some type of Popsicle... The set up was pretty cute for the whole 5 minutes that it lasted...I served little American themed candy cups of cut tomatoes, strawberries and blueberries. The kids loved them before they all got knocked over and stepped on. I've got to hand it to our buddy Dave Robbins because he was able to very quickly capture shots of the set up before it all got destroyed. Lucky for us! Another really unfortunate situation that I didn't anticipate was when the glass bottle I brought the lemonade up in got tipped over and broke. YIKES. Are you going up to a roof top pool anytime soon? I suggest you BRING PLASTIC! We tried to get some pictures of the kids lazing around on the picnic blanket...but as I'm sure you can imagine that was no easy feat. I put together picnic boxes for each of the kids filled with star shaped sunglasses, turkey sammies and corn on the cob. You got to hand it to these two...they sure know how to work that camera! My favorite part of this crazy playdate was the activities that we planned. I made a ring toss game by using empty soda bottles. I sprayed 2 red, 2 white and the rest I left as glass. The red were 3 points, white were 2 points and glass were 1.  We found wood rings at our local craft store and wrapped with twine for tossing. We also brought up some potato sacks which the kids loved hopping around in! Since I seem to always have a very hard time eating ice cream when it's hot out I turned to our girl Clarelicious to make us some ice cream cone cupcakes to enjoy which minimized our mess. Was a brilliant idea. These were a HIT! When the kids took a breather and relaxed for a second it was nice to enjoy a moment of down time and the mad view of NYC from the roof top. We ended the playdate with a super huge star spangled balloon in front of the water fountain outside our apartment building. The kids said their good byes and we yet again ended another crazy but in the end, fun playdate.

For more on this playdate click on over to Mommy Shorts.All photos above were taken by Dave Robbins Photography.All clothes above were sponsored by Gymboree.