4th of July Fun

Our Independence Day celebration this year was pretty similar to last year. Expect Perry was with us and last year they were so much smaller : ( It's funny how you don't realize they've grown until you look at them the year before!

So again like last year, we went to the cabin and spent the day with Grandma Betty and parked our car along side the road to watch the parade. We arrived about 1 1/2 hours early. Enough time to get a good spot and to take a walk down the road further for lunch. Although we still had plenty of time to spare before the parade actually started, the boys were eagerly patient. 

When the parade began, both boys were so excited when they saw the fire trucks coming...As I look at this picture of Hunter, I think, "where has all the time gone?!" It seems like just the other day I was swaddling him up in a blanket, not little Charlotte...And now he's getting closer and closer to 5 years old! Anyways...

I loved this old police car!

And JP got a kick out of the gorilla riding the little...dirt bike? Probably the highlight for him. After these couple fire trucks went by, another one came past that was spraying the crowd because it was so hot out! When we saw it coming, I put Charlotte in the car because I knew she'd hate getting wet. And I had Perry put the camera in the car so it wouldn't get wrecked. "It'll only be a mist Sadie..." So the fire truck passed us and sprayed us down. JP screamed in tears. I was a little shocked because it was a little more than "just a mist" and then before I could really even acknowledge that the cold water felt nice, the man on the hose aimed it our way again.

Conveniently enough, the people to our right had a little hose and were trying to get the people on the fire truck wet...and it back fired, for both parties. And I, solely, was the one in the middle of it. Since the fire truck was already past us, his hose didn't quite reach far enough to get them, so I was caught for about 5-10 seconds directly under the fire hose. Do I need to say how wet I was? I couldn't gather what was happening otherwise I'd have gotten out of my chair... At the end of the parade when they came back through to do it again, I hid behind the car, and Perry pulled the back door of my car down to use it as a shield...  

As the parade went on, JP dried out, and was an excellent candy picker-upper. Hunter rocked it though. I'm glad they actually understood that the candy thrown at them this year was for them to pick up... Hunter even shared some of his candy with the kids on each side of us. Without prompting :)

We were both surprised when Hunter actually hugged a costumed person too! I hate people in costume...

I'm sure Grandma enjoyed holding little Charlotte through the parade!

Doesn't she look so cute?!

Once we arrived back at the cabin, Perry let the boys throw Snaps around for bit. After dinner Grandma and the boys went and played down by the river while Perry and I napped on the couch. When we got back into town that night, I took the boys up to see Nanny and Papa before the fireworks show. And then we had a perfect little storm of meltdowns starting with JP. 

As Nanny was holding Charlotte in the kitchen, she projectile vomited all over the floor. Three times. Just as I got back from grabbing a rag to clean it up, JP come sprinting through and wiped out on the mess. He landed with his back in the middle of it. Pretty funny to watch...really gross to see the back of his shirt he didn't want to take off... We saw a couple fireworks on the way home. Hunter - "And Jim, when you see fireworks, you will see fireworks!" Uhh...what? 

And when we arrived home ten minutes later than expected due to the slip 'n slide in the kitchen, "Panicking Perry" showed up freaking out because they were going to miss the firework show. After getting the boys situated on the roof, I told him they still had half an hour... So they came back down and he and the boys lit off a couple fireworks. Hunter and JP were pretty scared of all the booming that was going on around town. As soon as I came outside, they clung to me like little leaches! 

But again warmed up to fireworks when Perry got the sparklers out.

This year instead of sitting on the hill with Aunt Kim, we sat on our rooftop to watch the firework show...and I had a little meltdown because I couldn't get on the upper roof...Perry had to hoist me up...

And though this is a little fuzzy, this was our view of it...pretty awesome. Not. But luckily we could at least see it through the trees! And there were some behind us too. Each time for the first 5 minutes, the boys would exclaim, "BONUS!!" each time they saw a firework. Not quite sure why...

Before we came down off the roof, we had the boys yelling, "Happy birthday America!" The first time Hunter yelled it was closer to "Happy birthday Ber-air-ica!"

And then Charlotte had a meltdown trying to fall asleep with all the booming...that was a fun night for me and her!