Fourth of July

For the past three years, we've attended the 4th of July Parade and party at the Thomas family's home along the parade route. We are thankful for the annual invite. The children love the parade. We all do! We love that we can walk a short, pleasant distance from our home to theirs that morning. We love the energy as our neighbors are all out on their front lawns and people drive from miles away to experience it with us. We enjoy breakfast goodies and a place to relax. If the kids need to use the bathroom, we have a place to take them. The parade is a few hours long and then we have a cook-out lunch and pot-luck afterwards. Every year I take a few pics of our kids and the parade, but I really need to take more pics of the whole crowd! Several of our close friends attend and our children enjoy watching it together. This parade is just as all-American as it can get. Well, except for maybe the mariachi band and Mexican flag and sombreros? Just joking. That's all-American, too. We are all a big melting pot of ethnicities and cultures. Proud of our heritage and proud to be American. 

On our way to watch the parade!

Selfie with my big girl

I love the "cable cars" that are part of the parade every year.

Putting AK to work with back yard mowing.

Chow time.

My friend has a sweet little tree house in the back yard that was a big hit with the 3+ year olds. 

Baby girl looking cute in her festive outfit from Dinkney. 

Post nap messiness. Ice cream maybe?

A little sibling basketball

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And this, my friends, is known as a "parenting fail." I thought I had a few sparklers for them to enjoy, but I think these may have been left over from our wedding ten years ago. OOPS! So, they had a fireball at the end of the stick instead of a pretty cascade of sparklers. 

Yep, not a good idea. We'll try again. :)