July 4th Festivities

We took the girls to a near by small town to watch a parade. We thought we left early enough to get there on time, but we just barely made it. The traffic on I-5 stopped about a mile from the exit we wanted and it took us nearly 40 minutes to drive that one mile and get onto the main road. We were able to find a parking spot near our destination and walked to meet our friends who had already saved us seats at the front of the parade. The parade started two minutes after we sat down.
This was the first time either of the girls had been to a parade and they really enjoyed it. When asked what their favorite thing about the parade was, they both said The CANDY!! What a silly question to ask two little girls holding a huge bag of candy in their laps.

Here are the kids waiting for the parade to start.

Running out to get the candy. They made out like bandits.
More candy then going down around the block at Halloween.
They even got otter pops! Such a great haul.

I loved the lawn mowers coming down the street.
Get a load of the blue one with cars attached.

So many, many gorgeous classic cars in the parade.
I love classics and dream of the day when I can have one
of my very own. This is one of my favorites, a T-bird.

Lots of princesses in this parade.
Again, an old classic fire engine.

Got a kick out of these dyed poodles.

The horse club all glitzed up; the girls oohed and aahed over the horses.
Wouldn't it be fun for K to be on a horse in a parade one day?

Later in the day we headed over to our friends' house for our annual 4th of July Barbecue. Everyone brings an item and we visit while the kids run around in the backyard playing in the water. This year we invited a new family and we are hoping they will continue to join us at future bbq's.

Kids playing on the slip and slide and with water guns.

When it started getting dark, we headed outside to shoot off fireworks. This is always the highlight of the night. The wives and kids sit back to enjoy the show while the hubby's try not to blow off any body parts. We had one moment of panic when a firework misfired and one of the mom's had to dive out of her chair to get away. She and baby were okay, but it was scary and heart-pounding for everyone. We moved our chairs much further back after that.
When our fireworks were over, we had a lovely view of the rodeo fireworks. It was a wonderful night shared with our loving friends. Can't wait until our next bbq.