4th of July

The July 4th holiday weekend was jam-packed with all sorts of activities. On Saturday in my hometown where my parents still live, the town sponsored kid's day, which my brother and I attended when we were little. It was hot out but my mom, dad and I let the kids run around in the field. They still gave out the coupons for a free ice cream, soda and American Flag. When we were leaving we went to collect the flags for the kids and they each also got a festive pinwheel, bubbles, paddle & ball and a box of sidewalk chalk.
We walked back to my parents house where the kids napped for a couple hours. they woke up and played on the new Little Tikes climber I scored off of Craigslist. They loved it! Later on family and friends stopped in for a bbq and to get ready to watch the fireworks. We could see them through the trees but the kids were long asleep.

On Sunday we spent the day at our good friends house, Mike & Stephanie and the kids went swimming for the first time. They didn't quite care for it at the beginning but the girls warmed up to it. Not so much for Liam. We got them life vests and I think they are just a little bulky and need to get used to them.

Monday my hometown had their annual 4th of July parade. This was the kids 3rds parade but their first one for Independence Day. The fire engines frighted Kiera (ually it's Alaina) but after they passed she was fine. Who would have thought that some guy dressed up as a scrawny Elmo would be the biggest hit of the parade? Alaina and Kiera shouting "Melmo!" and "Elmo!" respectively kept them in good spirits pretty much to the end of the parade. It was a scorcher and I felt bad for those poor souls marching. Glad we were in the shade!

So here are a couple pictures from the weekend. We took so many but here are some of my favorites.