4th of July

What an interesting 4th of July...it starts like the picture above with a adorable parade for the kids and ends with a bonfire in the middle of our cul de sac. I didn't realize we lived in West Virginia....

Here is the story...

Every year the ridge does a 4th of July parade for all of the kids and they are the parade. It is about a mile and it ends in the soccer fields with lots of food, blow up toys, pony rides, petting zoo and tons more fun. Have I mentioned that I love where we live?

The whole parade is the kids dressed up and all of the wagons and bikes decorated for the 4th.

The favorite were the blow up slides....

Brennyn wanted nothing to do with the blow up toys so she spent the whole time trying to pull the wagon around.

Becky and JJ came over for the fireworks and we are getting food ready for the big neighborhood party.

I think it is a rule in Washington that it must rain and be absolutely freezing for the 4th of July. We all had winter coats on and I even got out my gloves for the night. Alliya and Brennyn had a great time splashing in all of the puddles and getting completely soaked.

After a couple of loud fire crackers Alliya decided it was warmer, dryer and much quieter inside...

About 20 minutes later all of the girls decided it was much more fun to watch the show from inside, while playing princess. (Emory, Alliya and Presley)

They say you are always learning something new to love about your spouse...on the 4th I learned that my husband is a bit of a pyromaniac.

This is what happens when you send 5 guys to the Indian reservation to buy "a few fireworks"

To their credit, they got the good stuff.

Note the hat and winter coats...

We had such a great time with Becky, JJ, the kids and all of our awesome neighbors.

So this is how the evening ended....once all of the fireworks were finished we had a huge mess to clean up. Once of the guys apparently thought getting a cup of gasoline and lighting on fire would be a much better (more fun) way of cleaning up. After that, someone brought out some cardboard, and the night ended with a wood pallet being thrown on top. I can honestly say this was the most interesting but most fun 4th of July I have ever had. I can't wait to see if we can top it next year.