july 4th

The 4th is one of my favorite holidays- hotdogs, watermelon, sparklers, everyone dressing all matchy-matchy, freedom, everyone together feeling pride for your country- sign me up! It was extra fun this time because my parents and sister-in-law with my nieces were out visiting.

In the morning we (minus the kiddos) got up ssuuupper early and did the Freedom Run 5k. It was such a beautiful morning! I generally hate running, but when we all get matching shirts and they promise snacks at the end, I guess it's tolerable...in the name of freedom. ;-) 

The 5k and 10k routes were similar for many of the stretches- it was funny how you could just tell who the 10k runners were, even though we weren't labeled any differently- you know- the thighs don't lie. I have a theory that there is a direct correlation between the length of a man's shorts and the number of miles he can run- it's an inverse relationship.

 ^How cute are my parents?!

After the run, James brought all the kiddos down to watch the grand parade! It was actually our first year watching it and I think we'll be back next year. Jillian loved all of the floats and city pageant winners, who she referred to as princesses and queens.

That night we went to a large field where we'd have a decent view of all of the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire show. With kids it was perfect, because they could still stretch out and have fun and the fireworks weren't loud enough to freak them out. I could not BELIEVE Olivia stayed up the entire time (until almost 11pm). She was a bit loopy by the end though, shaking her head back and forth and laughing at nothing...(I don't think that makes us bad parents if it's just once or twice a year, right? :-p)

 ^We definitely weren't worried about losing my Dad in the crowd...And I think Jillian's favorite part of the night was playing with her glow sticks!

 ^This little girl is a FOODIE. Anytime she sees anyone eating anything she will walk up to you saying "mmmm," fully expecting you to let her sample what you have. She's also eaten a couple of bugs...so we can't trust her preferences just yet.

 ^Starting to get tuckered out!

Happy birthday America! Though it's not perfect, we're pretty happy to call it home!