4th of July 2013

When creating the title of this post (a masterpiece of creativity) I almost typed 2012 instead of 2013.  It is July of 2013 and I still think it is 2012.  So there's that.

 The 4th of July at the Edwards' house was a bit of an impromptu extravaganza.  When I was a kid we used to go to the neighborhood 4th of July parade every year and I loved it!  Kids on bikes, a group of dads who did a routine with lawnmowers, and grammas who walked their dogs dressed up in festive costumes, it was perfect.  So at 11pm on July the 3rd I decided to scour the internet for local parades to take Giddy to (also known as looking for an excuse not to go to bed, so lots of things haven't changed since I was a kid).  And so early the morning of the 4th we hit Denny's for breakfast and then joined GG and Rock for a little parade nearby.  I won't lie, the parade was mostly cars (sponsored by Nissan y'all!) but Gideon really seemed to love it anyway.

waiting for the parade to begin

my sweet baby

My mom brought her own festive dogs

a perfect view

When the parade was over we turned around and there was a small carnival in the park behind us.  A local church had set up a free children's area with plenty of stuff for Giddy to do so we figured why not?

this was next to the line for the Olde Fashioned Root Beer.

Surprise!  he caught a laffy taffy

He finally gets this whole bounce house thing

"Weeeeeee daddy!"

Afterwards we went home for a much needed nap, then it was off to GG and Rock's house for a 4th of July barbecue!  We had a nice time swimming and catching up with old friends and just enjoying the moment, so much so that I barely documented said moment.  It wasn't until it was almost time to leave that my sister and I realized we hadn't gotten pics of the kids in the shirts they made together.  Trying to photograph two toddlers at the end of a long day is simply a comedy of errors.  If you don't laugh you might lose your mind.

Just before sunset we raced back to our house to watch fireworks.  We have only lived here a few years and those that were before Gideon we spent out on the 4th while those after we spent in, but I vaguely recalled being able to see and hear fireworks from a large hill down the street so we got a blanket, toys and snacks and drove over.  At first my sister and I were a little disappointed with only being able to see little tiny fireworks in the far distance.  We were close to calling it a night when the fireworks really started in earnest; at  one point we were watching 7 shows at once!  None were close enough to be a noise issue for the kiddos but you could definitely hear the pops and see the awesome colors.  Pretty thrilling.

I love my sister

the kids were really into these spinny wand things I got them.  they were a life saver 

magical

It's actually totally dark here.  Yay for not using the flash and light pollution!

cool guy

cool guy trying to put all of the glow bracelets under his chin

I like to call this "ready for bed"

After the fireworks everyone was exhausted and we all headed to bed.  All-in-all a great day and another holiday that gives photographic evidence of how much my child has grown:

On the left: 4th of July 2012, Giddy's first baseball game (in Seattle).  On the right: 4th of July 2013, Gideon's first parade