4th of July

We had such a great holiday! We started the day with a rush to get Brady's bike decorated for the Dimmeydale 4th of July parade. Our friend Brad lives in Dimmeydale and he invites us every year to his 4th of July party and the whole neighborhood has a parade. It is a small parade. All the kids decorate their bikes or scooters and walk through the neighborhood to the playground. The parade is led by a Wheeling PD cruiser, color guards, and a bag pipe band. At the playground they said the Pledge of Allegiance and someone sang the national anthem. After the ceremony there are small games for the kids to play and they walk away with prizes and huge smiles. Brad cooked ribs and burgers. We ate and had a blast. Thank you brad for the invite!
We came home after the party to put Oliver down for his afternoon nap. Out neighbors were also having a party that we were invited to. Brady put on her swimsuit and she and Michael headed over. Oliver decided it wasn't time for his nap yet and we joined them. Brady has become such a good swimmer! I am so proud of her.
Our plans for the evening were to head to Dan and Jeananne's for their party. We were a little leery as we were supposed to get major thunderstorms and had a tornado watch. We watched the weather for a while and the storms literally split and went around us. Thank you mother nature! So we packed up the kids and headed out. We had such a blast! I played wiffle ball with Jeananne and some of the kids. Boys vs. girls. I thought it was so much fun that we should make it a regular event. I took sparklers and small fireworks and the kids had a great time with those too. At about 9pm I looked at Brady and told her we were going to be missing the fireworks downtown. She begged me to hurry and leave so we could see some of them and I couldn't resist the look in her eyes and I said, "Let's do it. Get your stuff gathered and we are out of here." So our next adventure for the day was heading to the fireworks. I wasn't sure where to watch them and knew I didn't want to battle downtown as Oliver was now asleep. So we headed for Wheeling Island's parking lot. We got there just in time. We didn't get home until 11pm. What a great day. We were pooped but it was worth it!



This is Sam Byrum holding Oliver. Isn't she stunning? She is now 13yrs old and is just starting to babysit. Lucky me! I have known her mother since she was pregnant with Sam. I have watched her grow up so I know what a great kid she is.