4 days that made our 4th of July GREAT:

1) FRIDAY: Local "singing showcase" and evening at the park. It also included a carnival, which didn't really add anything to the night--once we talked Ethan into riding one of the kids rides, we stuck him on the ride, the carnival worker started it, and Ethan SCREAMED in fear as he started moving at a rapid, mmm, let's say 5 mph. The ride was promptly stopped, the carnival picked up our panicking child and handed him to us. What a wasted $2! Luckily the singers were performing at the adjoining park, so we had free family fun on slides and swings while being serenaded by Nashville-star hopefuls.


2) SATURDAY: The evening was spent at a minor league baseball game, complete with access to the all-you-can-eat baseball buffet of brats, burgers, and drinks. We had great fun, but decided to end the night on a good note by getting our kids to bed at a decent hour and as fair-weathered-fans, we snuck out of the game during the 5th inning.


3) SUNDAY: Inspiring church meetings included many reminders of the blessings of living in such a wonderful nation, blessed of God with all the freedoms we enjoy and the obligations that come with the stewardship of those blessings.

Coming home from church, we parked a block behind our apartment, and walked home to find the city's PARADE going right past our FRONT DOOR! Crowds had been saving areas to watch the parade for the past 4 hours, so we were excited that we could just walk up and watch it from our front yard :) Ethan was a little unsure about being allowed to go off the sidewalk onto the edges of the street to pick up the armfuls of candy being thrown our way (did I mention it was the BEGINNING of the parade route--you know, the part where they throw candy like there's no tomorrow, then run out of it two blocks down?). After hearing about runaway horses in another Iowa parade, I was grateful Ethan and Gavin were happy to sit right by us on the lawn. Though the weather had been predicted to be rain all day, the storms stayed at bay during the parade, and EXACTLY as the last float drove by, it started to sprinkle. I guess IT CAN'T RAIN ON OUR PARADE!

A big rain storm came that evening but luckily stopped an hour before fireworks, so when darkness hit, we woke our kids up from bed, and walked a couple blocks over to the park where we had a great view of the fireworks. Apparently the kids weren't quite as impressed with the fireworks as we were; Gavin seemed unsure about them and Ethan constantly complained "It's too LOUD, I don't like it so LOUD." Luckily with a little help from Brian's hands, Ethan seemed to enjoy them much more if his ears were covered.


4) MONDAY: A nice day was spent at home together and then we went to Toy Story 3. We loved it, Ethan was glued to it the whole time (I was surprised some of those mean toys didn't scare him), and though Gavin struggled, he eventually fell asleep in Brian's magic arms.


If only EVERY weekend could be 4 days and filled with fun! Happy 4th of July!