Independence Day

One of our favorite holidays. We love America!

We started the celebrations with a big neighborhood party on the 3rd. Our friends go all out and do a huge professional-level display. Lots of treats and bffs beforehand and everyone is happy.

We have to bring ear protection as the fireworks are directly overhead. We put Blade to bed before it started and Maddie asked to go home halfway through.

Thursday morning, we had delicious flag-themed German pancakes to give us lots of energy for the rest of the day.

Good thing, because it turned out to be exhausting. Our kids love doing the city bike parade when we are in town for the 4th. Lance helped them get their bikes/scooter all spiffed up and they were ready to go!

I guess those kids can go pretty fast on those things. A lot faster than I anticipated. I ended up alternating between jogging and sprinting the whole parade route while Lance ran to catch up from parking the car. The German pancakes were sitting like a rock in my stomach and things were a little rough there for a while. Maybe I should run more often...

At the end:

The kids did great- they zipped along, with Daryn needing a few pushes on the uphill part and Maddie just needing some encouragement. Mom and Dad, on the other hand...

I was just glad to sit down and watch the real parade after that. 

And so were these patriotic darlings.

Lots of candy and sirens!

We stopped by the carnival for a few minutes after and let the kids pick a couple rides. 

They chose this bouncy slide last, which turned out to be a terrible idea and they all got burned bums.

Oops...

Blade got the better deal, I think.

We had big plans to play in the pool all afternoon, but an unexpected thunderstorm rained on that idea for most of the afternoon. It did clear up for a few minutes so the kids ran out.

Reagan was thrilled about her cast cover.

It was only a little chilly!

My parents arrived that afternoon and Lance and Grandpa cooked us a yummy dinner with kabobs. We planned to eat outside on our new picnic table but thunderstorm round two put an end to that (and also made us decide to skip the city fireworks and concert that night).

Luckily we were able to do a makeup the next day. Toddlers in trunks in my new favorite thing!

My dad also took Reagan and Daryn to Cabelas that next morning and then all 3 girls to the airplane museum in the afternoon so we could get things ready for Reagan's baptism the next day. Brave man! I'm so impressed.

The rain put a damper on things, but overall it was still a great holiday. We're so lucky to live here, and we try to never forget that!

P..S. Earlier in the month (or maybe it was Memorial Day?) we visited a lookout over Layton and discovered a little hike to a creek that was a lot of fun.

 Nature is the best!