Truly a Happy Independance Day

We had a great family day on July 4th. It started out with Nathan's very first race. Not a mile, not even half a mile, mind you - 4 blocks. But, Nathan has come leaps and bounds in trying new things and we were happy to support his enthusiasm for his first race. He was so excited that he got to have his own number to pin on, just like mommy and daddy. Course, none of mommy and daddy's races had football players to help warm us up! Nathan obediently followed these big boys' instructions on warming up - even doing his very first lunges (don't worry hunny, we will talk about proper form next time...).

We thought at first we might need to run with him, but he was off and going and even made it all the way back still running (we were banking on the potential walk/run). We were so proud of him as he crossed the finish line and got his participant ribbon, but not as proud as he was of himself. So cute!




Oh, about this point I should probably offer a disclaimer - I am a holiday junkie. I celebrate them to the the point of potential overdose. I just L-O-V-E getting into every little fun detail that makes holidays special and separate from the day to day. Okay, you may read on now - consider yourself warned.

So the night before we took our cue from some Florida friends' tradition of tie-dying shirts for the 4th, white shirts in blue and red. There was a learning curve so Matt and I's shirts turned out better than the boys, but they were excited for something new and it was fun to be patriotic AND matching.

After the race and breakfast we hurried off to the big Central Point Parade. I know what you are thinking - we live in a town of 18,000 people - how big does a parade get? Well, 100 floats/participants big and big enough to outdo the big city (Medford) close by. We were grateful for a warning from a friend the night before to save our place in the shade early so to have a seat the next day. It was easily 90 degrees+ that day here, so we were grateful for the heads up and enjoyed the parade. Of course, my kids were all about the bling - which parade participants gave out candy, frisbees, balls, or necklaces. Or, my personal favorite - the plumber who gave out toy plungers. Yup, the kids were even fighting for those. Amazing how exciting things get when they are free and being thrown from a parade float.

The boys in their parade watching positions with good bud Isaac

Dad and Luke looking especially patriotic infront of the flag (that later kept whapping them in the face!)
What this parade doesn't have it's own face painting? Don't worry - Mommy brought her own! Like I said, holiday fanatic!



Two cute boys happy and complete with blue sucker-dyed lips

We spent almost the rest of the day at a local lake thanks to some friends reserving a pavillion and inviting us and a bunch of other ward members along. Gotta love the water - it really is an ageless place to hang out. Everyone had a great time, from little Luke to Mom and Dad. Matt and I even did some tubing, which was a blast. We were one of the last to leave and had a great time. Dad was smart and even brought our own little inflatable boat (in FL everyone had boats...this was all we could afford!)

We got home in time to clean up and head out to a fireworks show. A guy in our ward does an amazing firework show, just on his own in the neighborhood. Literally 100+ people were there and the kids loved watching the show.

Even among all this, it was great to have kids to have to explain things to. Nathan wanted to know what we were celebrating and it was neat (though hard!) to explain freedom to him and how that was something really worth celebrating!