Independence Day 2011

Our 4th of July festivities began with parade watching. Some years here, there's a clear theme for the 4th of July parade. Other years, not so much. From our perspective, this was one of the latter. Nevertheless, there were fun things to see. Here we have the ultimate board game float, with nods to Scabble, Jenga, and Monopoly.

This float had quite a variety of "A is for . . ." elements.
Mom's favorite was the Addams Family section:

There were also some REALLY big horses in the parade. (We don't remember who they were pulling; too distracted by the horses themselves.)

Here's Mom's other favorite float:

Here are the boys on the way home from the parade. They're getting so big!

After the parade, we found that Amanda's Mothers' Day snapdragon had put on a colorful display for the occasion:

In the middle of the day when the parade was all done, we had a picnic with some good friends. While the guys stayed home to wrangle the youngsters, the moms had a blast cruising the store in search of grub. In between grabbing watermelon and stuffing a bucket full of yummy fried chicken, they got to sample carrot souffle and three kinds of gelato (blueberry pie, pomegranate pistachio, and chocolate jalepeno). Eating it all together was fun, too. As you can see, Lydia liked it.

While Curtis and Lydia napped, Dad took Amanda and Jared swimming. (Thanks, Uncle Mike, for choosing a hotel with a pool!) Later, we all went on a little outing. What started as sight seeing expedition turned into eight new bowls and a yummy pizza dinner. Here's Lydia en route.

After the boys went to bed, Lydia got all dressed up to watch the fireworks. She enjoyed chasing the ball while she waited. And yes, she did chase it. In honor of Independence Day weekend, she learned to crawl! (with a little help from Dad giving her some technical pointers)

At last, it was fireworks time. We got to watch them from our backyard. Yet another reason to love life in Muffin Land. :)