Happy 4th!

We have officially been in our house for a year!  One of the best parts of our neighborhood is the holiday festivities - Halloween, Christmas, & the 4th of July.  Last year we had just moved in the week before (& had a baby 2 weeks before that), so we didn't participate in the 4th of July parade.  But this year, the kids had heard all about it.
 
The parade is pretty low-key.  Kids decorate their bikes and then ride from one end of the neighborhood to the other side.  They end at one of the neighborhood parks for ice cream. 
I went out with Avery and Owen the night before to decorate their bikes.  I had just found a scoot bike for Owen the week prior, so he had never actually ridden the bike before.  They loved decorating and we were out there until after dark.

The next morning was sunny and beautiful.  We headed down to the start of the parade, but we quickly realized that Owen was going to be anything but quick! He could not stay on his bike.  There are no pedals, but he refused to sit down and "scoot".  He insisted on walking with the bike between his legs, which made for a very slow trek. By the time Owen arrived at the park for the ice cream, he was the last kid out there.  I gotta give him credit for not giving up though!  We all enjoyed our ice cream, played on the playground, and headed home
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We celebrated with a family dinner and then a few fireworks out front.  Many of our neighbors are really enthusiastic and buy a crazy amount of fireworks.  So, you can stand at the park by our place and see at least 3 large firework displays going on simultaneously. It's awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Monster Fruit Salad that I made for our family party. I found this hilarious! :)

 

Cousin Delaynie's cool hairdo!

 

 

Owen wasn't so sure about the thrill of sparklers...he felt safer holding onto the stop sign post.

 

Happy 4th of July!