our 4th of July!

Happy (belated) Independence Day!  This was probably our best 4th of July to date!  We had such a blast as a family and getting daddy home all day on a Thursday was fun too.  Owen requested pancakes so I decided to have a little fun with our breakfast.

 

We got dressed bright and early and finished decorating our wagon for the neighborhood parade.  Well, technically, it was the neighborhood across the street, but we always head that way for fun events.

We walked a few blocks to the park where everyone was invited to decorate their "rides" and wear red, white, and blue.

There was a fire truck and ambulance waiting for us to check out!

 

We saw some friends so we were able to get a family picture!

 

Then, all the kids and parents walked around the neighborhood in a little parade.

 

We went right home so Ellie could take a little rest before heading out for our next adventure.

We were very excited that Champaign moved the parade time up this year as it's usually been right during our afternoon nap time.  But 11:05 worked great for us. We packed our lunches and parked at the Vet Med building and walked down to the parade route.

We found a great seat and the kids did amazingly well for the parade.  While not the most exciting parade for adults, Owen LOVED the constant flow of trucks.  Ellie actually sat and watched most of it which is an amazing feat.                            

 

While the kids were taking their (very short) naps we made last minute plans with the family we do childcare for.  Owen was ecstatic that Sam and Rob and Carrie were coming over.  They brought Sam's little Lightning Car over so they could drive together.  Sam's is probably much more appropriately sized for these guys and Owen wanted to drive his more than the big car.

 

Then we enjoyed a yummy dinner of all the typical 4th favorites: burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, and corn on the cob.  After some play time in the backyard, we had a very patriotic cake for dessert before they went home.

Owen actually stayed up until firework time, having a blast playing outside past normal bedtime hours.  He really wanted to climb on this and decided to go to the bathroom, get his stool, and do it himself.  He was quite proud of getting up by himself.

 

We thought we'd see if we could watch the fireworks from our house and while we could see them a bit from his fort or his bedroom, the show wasn't great.  So William hopped in the car and they went down the road a bit and watched for about 15 minutes.  They got back before the show was over.  Next year, when Ellie's bedtime isn't so early we'll actually get them closer to the real event.

But what a fun day!  Hope you're Independence Day was a *blast* as well!