4th of July 2012

For the first time in four years I didn't work on July 4th, so the children and I went to the parade! It was their first parade and I was a little worried it would be too boring for them......I was very wrong.

Here is a video of Amelia and Cooper at the parade. It gets a little shaky when Cooper brings his candy to me (which he did the entire parade). The float going by was a dance company dancing to "Thriller", hence the scary creatures. The kids were so excited to see the parade I think we may make it a yearly tradition, because as you can hear at the very end of the video Cooper says, "I LOVE this parade!"

Ready to celebrate the 4th.

Waiting for the parade to start, protected by the umbrella. No one got sunburned but me. Apparently SPF 50 still isn't strong enough for my skin.

Ben, Kim and Matthew joined us.

Cooper very excited about the passing floats. He loved the "Bumblebee" car (a yellow Camaro).

Cooper explaining to Amelia candy-gathering strategy. They were excited BEFORE the candy started flying.

Only in Rexburg do you have missionaries in the parade.

The kids waved and waved and waved at everyone in the parade.

At the end of the parade the National Guard came by with their water truck. Every few feet they would stop and spray the road in front of them. Children would swarm to play in the water. I don't have a picture because the lovely National Guard truck also shot water into the crowd, drenching everyone. I was scrambling to get my camera covered. Good thing I did, because I got soaked!

After the parade we walked home (so nice!) and then bought some fireworks. Luckily the kids are young enough they are content with sparklers, those snappy things and a few others. I don't have pictures of the fireworks because, hello--explosives and children--I was lucky Cooper didn't set me on fire with his sparkler.

I hope I don't have to work on the 4th of July ever again, it was a great day!

Happy 4th of July!!