Happy Fourth of July! (on July 7th)

So, we started out the fourth to a predicted heat of 104 or something crazy like that. By 10:45 am, it was ridiculously hot, but since both of the kids wanted to be in the children's parade, we suffered through.

See, our town has it's own parade - they let any kid who wants show up and walk (or ride, or be pulled, or be pushed, or be carried, or whatever) the (what feels like forever and a day) short parade route to the free kids fest. There are little signs telling you where to line up (bikes, scooters, trikes, walkers, etc.); only most people go wherever they want. We lined up with the only other little girl on a trike (that followed directions) and that was probably a good thing, since it was close to the end of the line.

You see, Mamu isn't exactly the best trike rider there is... like, he just scoots along with his feet. Put them on the pedals, and he goes.nowhere. Like he's stuck in mud, quicksand, and whatever else is sticky. I (in my infinite wisdom) thought, "Oh. It's ok. He scoots pretty fast. It's not a long parade route. He should be fine." Ok. I'll admit it. I was w.r.o.n.g. with a capital W. So he ended up scooting part of the way, me pushing him part of the way, and eventually, me carrying his trike while he walked part of the way. At some point, a very nice man gave me a bottle of water (there is a church along the route and they kindly give out water to all of us *ahem* suckers) and they cheered for Mamu. Poor Bebe was on her scooter and got tired of waiting for us. I'm pretty sure she lapped us a couple of times. We finally made it to the end of the line - where Jason was waiting- and Mamu was as happy as a clam to scoot/ride to Dad. (We definitely will be working on our trike riding skills once the weather is less than 100 degrees.)


Yes, the kids decorated their bikes with my fabulous help. Mamu really wanted to take his flags off and wave them, but couldn't figure out how to scoot/ride while doing that.
After our lunch, some naps, and a yummy hamburger/hot dog dinner, we popped some more poppers out back before we went to the fireworks. The kids really liked it, but poor Mamu couldn't pull the string out fast enough to really make his work.


When we got to the fireworks, we set up camp on the field and let the kids run around and play. Jason bought a bunch of glow sticks 3 years ago, and we finally finished them off this year. Jason made a ball out of some of them which Mamu turned into a football helmet. Complete with mouthpiece.

Bebe put on a show for us (and anyone else who wanted to watch).

Jason and Mamu played with another glow ball.

Bebe decided to work on her cartwheels and Mamu joined right in.

My feet with Mamu's - I did this to because I have one from when he was a baby and wanted to see how things have changed.

2011

2008

Mamu got a smidgent tired waiting for the fireworks and became quite silly. I had to hold onto him for awhile and he kept saying "I'll stay on the blanket Momma!" and yet, I knew he wouldn't.

Bebe and I decided to paint our toenails patriotic colors - red with white flowers. Yes, my child is tan. No, I am not. Yes, she takes after Jason's side of the family - I swear when she's around them, the tan just rubs off. (We just spent a week with them, so I swear that really happens - or it could be that we spent a ton of time in the pool.)

The kids had a great time running around and playing in the field. Bebe met another little girl about her age and they played together for awhile. It seemed like forever for the fireworks to start, but doesn't it always? After the fireworks, we rode the shuttle back to our car and then came home. We had a great 4th and are so thankful that we live in the USA.