July 3rd... cause that's how our city does it.

So on July 3rd we went to the Parade... because as I mentioned in a previous post, our city has issues with celebrating our country's independance day on the sabbath... even if that country was founded on the principal of freedom of religion. Hmmm.

Anyways, it was bitter freezy COLD at the parade. My kids all had long pants and jackets and were still complaining about how cold it was! Thank goodness it started to warm up after a bit!

The parade started...

Then it stopped... for about 20 minutes. Come to find out later that one of the BMX bikers hurt himself and thought he had broken his ankle... glad it wasn't worse. As we waited a couple of helicopters flew by....

And I think the kids were more excited about them than about any of the rest of the parade... and that included the horses and the BMX bikers doing awesome tricks and flips and stuff!

After the parade we went home and made everyone take a nap... because, lets face it, late night watching fireworks at the parents house and an early morning at the parade PLUS a late night planned for watching fireworks that night equals.... notsomuchfun. So our kids were mad, but we were glad!

We took a nap.

Then we headed to one of Jeremy's coworkers houses for a BBQ. Mmmmmm yummy kebabs with zucchini and squash and Parmesan cheese on top! Heaven!

And besides Turbo got to get exposed to dogs...

 Shamus the boxer.... sooooo cute... want one!

Turbo was fine as long as he had a water gun handy. :)

and he had a blast shooting the adults! It wasn't so much a game of avoiding being shot as it was of standing still and hoping he didn't hit you. All the people there were awesome though and seemed to enjoy his antics!

We had a great time... and so did the kids!

In the end we walked down to the river to watch the fireworks and then we headed home to enjoy the rest of the weekend!

July 2nd... because that's how we do it!

As I mentioned in my last post, our area moves Independence Day celebrations around according to the day of the week that they fall on. This year, because the 4th lands on a Sunday our city has moved the big celebrations to the 3rd, which put the little towns in the area in a bind because they usually have their celebrations on the 3rd. So this year they moved theirs to the 2nd.

So on Friday my little family went to my parents house for a BBQ, some personal fireworks, and then to watch their little towns fireworks from the back porch!

The BBQ was WAY good (Go Mom and Dad!) but because this post is going to be picture heavy anyways I will spare you the mouth watering goodness (because it would just make you jealous and hungry anyways) and get on to the family fun!

Dad and the kids danced around in the back yard for a while, while we waited for the sun to get to a point where fireworks would be fun... Then we went into the front yard for some firework fun... but we had to break the kids in slooooowly :) You know, since they had been asking since they woke up this morning when we were going to do fireworks!

With hand held fireworks and PopIt's!

But even with the slow "breaking in" we still scared a baby dear out of hiding! I don't know if you can see it in the middle of the road there... it was moving pretty quickly and my reaction time with the camera wasn't as fast as it needed to be! He was a lot closer when we first saw him!

Then we went back to doing the Roman Candles... the kids loved then and we all counted up to ten as each one used up it's 10 charges :)

And, yes! That is a rare picture of me! I know... your amazed... I actually remembered to hand my camera off! And then Goober decided he needed to get into the picture too...

Silly Kiddo!

He cracks me up! Ahhhh the firework glasses (they had a prismatic effect so they made the fireworks all that much more colorful!)

The kids were ecstatic as they each got to take turns with helping light the fireworks and running as fast as their legs would carry them! Sometimes bringing expired fireworks back to put in the trash pile :)

And then there is the never fail Sparklers! :) Those are always a hit! Turbo even got a little bit of freedom with his....

Goober was nervous about the ones shooting in the air falling on him, so he decided the safest place was in the back of grandpa's truck in the garage! lol

Guess we didn't start out slow enough! :D

"Flowers" are always fun to chuck in the water... nothing puts those suckers out once they get going!

After a few more fireworks we moved to the backyard to wait for the "big" fireworks! The kids each borrowed one of Gma and Gpa J's jackets because I forgot to gab theirs from home before we can up... then Gpa started the fire pit until the cities fireworks started.

It was a great night! Thanks Mom and Dad! Your the best and our whole family had a blast!