The 4th

The 4th of July is a great holiday made even better when you live in a small town and have lots of family around.   I love the traditions associated with the 4th, the reason we celebrate it, the good food, and that it is a holiday that the adults in our family can enjoy just as much as the young kids.  Afton had been looking forward to the 4th for at least a month.  When she'd ask if it was July yet, she'd then list off the reasons she loved the 4th of July: "First we see the parade and get candy and see horses and floats.  Then we get to go to Karen's and play with our cousins and in the water.  And then we watch fireworks when it gets dark."

Mya got sick the day before and still wasn't feeling 100% in the morning, so Stefanie stayed home with her so she wouldn't have to be in the sun and heat all day.  We staked out one of our favorite seating spots for the parade the night before.  Afton was so cute before we went, spending a few minutes playing with Mya and then on our way out said, "I just wanted to play with Mya a little bit so she didn't feel left out."  I told Afton that if she waved to the floats as they went by she would probably get more candy thrown her way; she waved constantly after that.

 

Cuteness meter overload!

This is Afton  on the huge bounce house/slide that was at Karen's house all day.  I don't think the kids ever left it alone.

This is the water slide that has become a staple on the 4th in Karen's front yard.  The kids getting a running start and see how far down the slide they can go.

 

So glad that Mya felt better and joined in the festivities in the afternoon.  Getting ready for the fireworks here, in our typical seating spot in front of the high school.

 

Afton always wants to take her pets wherever she is going.  She keeps track of which pets have been where, and Spots hadn't seen the fireworks before so he was the lucky animal this time.

 

Had to steal a couple of pictures from Sharon of the girl cousins watching the fireworks we set off after the city show ended.  We always stay after and do fireworks while we wait for the traffic to clear out.  A great plan...kudos to whoever thought that one up.