The Fourth

The fourth is definitely one of my favorite times of year. This year we were blessed with beautiful weather, great memories, and lots of candy and mosquito bites.

Like last year, our day started out with the kids dressing up for the Kiddie Parade in Derek's hometown. If you remember last year, Punky and Buddy dressed up as Snow White and a Dwarf... in nearly 100 degree heat. This year I kept the temperature in mind when I planned their costumes and decided they should be the Tortoise and the Hare. We checked out the book from the library and watched the Disney cartoon, so that the kids actually knew who the Tortoise and the Hare were before their big day. Their costumes were fairly simple. Punky wore white clothes she already had. I bought her bunny ears and nose online and Grandma made a pom-pom tail. I bought Buddy a new green shirt and he wore his pajama bottoms. I made his turtle shell from a turkey roasting pan I bought at the dollar store. The costumes were simple but I think they turned out pretty cute!

We were running a little late that morning and had to be to town 30 minutes before the parade started. As soon as we pulled up to the parade line-up (about 5 minutes late), I realized I FORGOT THE BUNNY EARS AND NOSE! Derek had to drive the 7 miles back to his parents' house, look for the costume pieces, drive 7 miles back to the parade and then run to the parade line-up since the roads were closed for the parade.

Punky was feeling a little nervous that Daddy wouldn't find her bunny ears.

We had missed walking with our "Storybook Characters" group and ended up being the last group to walk through. Luckily, just as I was beginning to think Punky would have to walk the parade without her costume, Derek showed up and saved the day! After moving the car, he joined the kids about halfway through the parade route and I was able to move to the sidewalk and take some photos.



Because we missed walking with our group, we were stuck walking behind the "Patriotic" groups, which included kids on bikes or floats throwing candy. I soon realized this was going to be a disaster, because Buddy was following behind these kids picking up all the candy! I don't even think he realized he was walking in the parade at this point, because he was so focused on grabbing candy! We had a half a backpack full by the midway point. After we passed by our family, Buddy finally figured out he was in the parade and started waving to the crowd. He walked right along the side of the road and shouted, "Hi Everybody!".



Punky walked right in the middle of the street and waved with both hands.

After a quick walk, we met up with our family to watch the parade. The kid's changed clothes quickly before the parade began. I stenciled Punky's dress and think it turned out pretty cute!



After two more buckets full of candy, we headed to Derek's grandparents house for a barbecue. My favorite meal of the year!





We ended the day with awesome fireworks (Thanks Grandpa Scott!). Buddy gotten eaten a live from the mosquitoes. The next day, Derek had to work, but the kids and I stayed behind and spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa.  On Saturday, everyone went to visit new Little L and then came to our house for dinner.  It was a fun weekend!