Our first official date, meaning outside of drum corps, was to the movies. What did we see? Independence Day, of course. The one with Will Smith where aliens start blowing up the world on July 4th.
Two years later, we got married on July 1 and took our honeymoon over the holiday weekend. So yes, July is a significant month for us.
4th of July this year was pretty relaxing. George's parents came over to watch the River Bend parade with us. Skylar rode with the Girl Scouts in the parade. I put Drake and Lucy in the stroller and Bart hopped on his bike for the hike up Plantation to Shoreline Drive where we would be able to see the parade. George and his mom and dad were already there, and we were running a bit late, so we had to walk FAST. Two streets past Gangplank, the pedal fell off Bart's bike. So he had to walk the bike the whole way. Luckily, we make it in time to find George and watch the parade, but I was sweaty and yucky by then.
We saw the Binghams, from up the street, at the parade and sat on the side of the road with them. The kids got a ton of candy and ate most of it in about three minutes. After the parade, we walked over to the area around Town Hall, where there were all sorts of fun things going on.
There were free Pepsis and water bottles, and a huge lunch for a couple of bucks.
There was a Slip N' Slide for the kids. Skylar, Bart, and Drake remembered to wear their bathing suits this year.
There was a dunking booth. Skylar volunteered to be a dunkee. When Renee took her turn, she threw the ball and dunked Skylar on the first try!
There was an area set up which was basically a kid free-for-all area. There were bubble-blowing supplies, foam swords for play-fighting, noise-makers, and sidewalk chalk on the basketball court.
There was a cakewalk (which we participated in), and kayak rides in the pond (which we did not participate in). There was face painting and even a moon bounce for the children.
Probably the most fun (and most exciting) thing was the horse rides. For three bucks, your kid got a couple of loops around the field behind Town Hall, lead by a horse trainer. All three older kids wanted to ride.
While the children were riding, something scary happened. A horse, which was carrying a little girl who goes to BDQ with Sky and Bart, started bucking. The trainer was hanging onto the lead and trying to calm it down and keep it from bolting away. The little girl hung on to the saddle, while everyone gasped and held their breath with shock. Finally, the horse dislodged her. She fell to the ground and I was praying the horse didn't step on her. Somehow, the trainer was able to get the horse away and calmed down and the little girl stood up, smiling shakily and unhurt. Then her parents and a horde of other people descended on her and totally freaked her out. She started sobbing loudly, but she didn't seem to have been injured. That's when we decided it was time for lunch. Thank goodness the other horses had been docile and easy-going.
After a nap for the babies, we loaded up and went to the Nicolaysens' for dinner. We hung out with a group of our friends and ate while the kids played in the backyard wading pool and on the trampoline. Vanessa made a delicious patriotic cake using raspberries and blueberries as stars and stripes. The icing was to die for (literally). It used a ton of butter, but the frosting was so good!
We ended the night by parking on the side of the highway with a bunch of other people, just across from the Outback Steakhouse. From there we were able to watch the fireworks from pretty close up and still avoid the morass that was Lawson's Creek that night. We had no trouble getting back on the road after the display and we didn't have to wait in hours-long traffic.
Lucy enjoyed her very first 4th of July.
And Drakey was too pooped to pop.
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