July 1st..and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th

For the third year in a row Bryan's sister, Cammie, and her family, along with Bryan's parents, joined us for the fourth of July. As usual, we kept busy and had a blast. But, this year was made even more special by the fact that July 4 came on the heels of the Maynard's move from Germany back to the US and the fact that Ed was able to join us. Celebrating Independence Day with a soldier and his family brings the holiday into a whole new light and makes me appreciate that I get to spend every holiday with my family.
Every year the kids in our neighborhood put together a small parade on the morning of the fourth. And, every year we stand outside and watch it and say how much Lilly would have liked to have been in it. Well, this year we were prepared. Morgan helped Lilly design and decorate a head band to wear. Then, a few of us (not Bryan, kind of a sore subject) made tie dyed shirts to show our spirit. See, look how much fun we're having. Granddad, Lilly and Jack practicing for the parade.

Cammie and Jack. Jack misses his aunt Cammie, she was always there to change him, feed him and hold him while I did other things. It was the most liberating weekend I've had since he was born. I miss aunt Cammie too...

Third of July fireworks: because you just aren't American if you don't spend your mortgage payment on explosives.

Heading off to finally be in the neighborhood parade!

Morgan and Jack sat the parade out, but still wore their new t-shirts.

The parade. Courtney and Aiden stopped by for a visit just in time to join in on the fun.

Everyone in their new shirts.

Later, we headed down to the park for some inflatable fun and later the fireworks. Lilly loves the inflatables and didn't even need Matthew's help this year.

She was so proud to climb up all by herself and then slide down.

Lilly didn't need Matthew to help her climb up the slide, but she still took advantage of him for a shoulder ride.

I love fireworks and worried for days that I was going to have to miss them because Jack would be afraid. I even bought him some ears plugs and had an emergency exit strategy when the show started. It was all for nothing. Jack fell asleep before the fireworks started and never even flinched when they started going off. But, you can see the little green ear plug.