Happy 4th of July!

Yes, I know it's July 5th today, but I opted to watch the fireworks on tv and go to bed early last night instead of blogging. 

We hung around the house all day until the parade started at 3 pm.  Here are a few of the pictures I took before we left.

My girls

Princess, Star, and Little Man ("Mom, put your camera away so we can just go to the parade already!!")

"It's a bug!! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Whew, that was a close call!"

Finally, I packed up my camera and we headed off to the parade.  Hubby was working, but his mom came with us.

Little Man picking up candy-when he concentrates, he sticks his tongue out.  And yes, those are purple Tinkerbell sunglasses he's wearing.  His sunglasses broke so he insisted on wearing his sister's.

We found a good spot on the curb to sit that was in the shade.  Shortly after we sat down, a group of smokers sat directly next to us (upwind, of course) on the right.  Then, a group of 8+ kids and 6 adults decided to squeeze into the 3 foot long spot to the left of us.  Several of the kids somehow worked their way over until they were right in front of me, and I ended up having to scoot back a few feet on the sidewalk with Star just so they wouldn't step on her.  Most of the kids were older (around 4th grade) and stood in the street so they could pick up the candy before anyone else could, which meant that they blocked our view and got to most of the candy before Princess and Little Man could.  It wasn't until quite a ways into the parade that their parents noticed what they were doing and told them to slow down on picking up the candy.        

Princess picking up candy

Despite the constant cigarette smoke that kept drifting into our faces and the rather inconsiderate group next to us, we still enjoyed the parade.  Star was thrilled with the horses in the parade and every time one went by, she just about catapulted herself out of my arms with excitement.     

You know you live in a rural area when a good portion of the parade looks like this.  That's 4 tractors there and there were several more that followed.

Just a couple of observations about the parade...

Adults throw more candy than kids.  I'm assuming it's because the kids are thinking that if there's candy leftover at the end of the parade, then they can have it.

A local bar had a float in the parade which mostly consisted of children.  Using kids to advertise a place that sells beer....classy.
 
One church had a group of adults and kids walking in the parade throwing candy and carrying signs like "God is love," "Jesus loves you," etc.  Not one person from the church had a smile on their face.  Most looked pretty unhappy to be there, and their demeanor didn't fit with their message at all.  I overheard several people around me talking about the church group.  One man sitting a few feet from us commented that based on what he just saw, he had no interest in ever visiting that church.    

A few of the floats threw Freezees.  Star couldn't get enough of hers!

Little Man picked a blue Freezee

When the parade was over, we headed to my in-laws' aka The Farm for supper.  The kids spent a lot of time playing outside.  It was over 80 degrees outside, but there was a cool breeze so it was a beautiful day.

As a bonus, at the end of the day, the kids were all so tired that they fell right to sleep which meant that I got to go to bed early.  That officially made it a good day for me!


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