Independence Day

Let's travel back in time nearly a month ago. Because the Fourth of July is where I need to start my most recent batch of catching up.

We really had a fun day. I can't remember if we slept in, or what, but for some reason we were a little late to the parade. As we were finding a parking spot, we heard fire engine sirens. Figuring that Ethan would really like to see them since he's all into trucks and cars and he showed interest in the sound, we hastily parked and ran to the parade. We nearly missed them, which is maybe a good thing. His reaction to the noise up close was very unsure.

But once they passed and other interesting things came along, he seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit.

This pirate ship was about the only real float that we saw. I thought it was really cool, but there wasn't much of a reaction from the crowd in general.

The trailers with squirt guns sure did though. Ethan and his daddy had fun getting sprayed.

This frisbee was one of the few things we came away with from the parade. (We also got a tomato plant!) We didn't seek candy, so we didn't get much thrown our way. One guy came up and tried to hand some  to Ethan. When we told him thanks but no thanks, he looked at us like we were crazy.

 After a while Ethan got a little bored of things. We had toys with us, but he was more interested in playing with the umbrella.

 I think this was a highlight for him. This man rode his horse right up to us so Ethan could pet it.

Later in the day, we met up with our friends the Mabbs for dinner. We were super glad to see them because they moved to Arizona and we don't get to see them very often anymore. We were lucky enough to have them stay for a couple of nights with us. Emily loved Ethan's little workbench. She spent just about the whole time at that thing.

 While Terral was making breadsticks, Ethan decided he wanted to try some and he made this hilarious face.

 And later he really went to town on the watermelon.

 Mmm! Goodness.

 This is the best picture I got of the feast in progress.

The next day, the Mabbs treated us to dinner at the pizza factory.

And then we met up with some other friends at the greenshow. 

All our "E" kids: Emily, Ethan, Eric, and Emmett. If you can't tell, some of them were a little tired by now.

 So we took them home for a bit, gave Ethan a bath and prepared him for bed, and then we went to the high school parking lot for fireworks. Because of all the wild fires, fireworks were restricted to certain places. Ethan had some fun reactions to them. The noisy ones made him a little afraid. I don't really like those ones either, buddy.

I love the principles this country was founded on, and I am so grateful for my liberty! And it made the holiday extra special that we got to spend it with the Mabbsies.