How many Cupcakes does that make for him now?

Yesterday was a fun day to be had for all. We had caught wind in the evening hours of Tuesday that there would be a parade beginning on our street at 10 a.m. on the morning of the 4th. Now, we've been gone to the lake for the last two years during this time in July and so we did not realize that our neighborhood, specifically our street, organized this parade each year.

Once Sam caught on to this idea he was game and how. He went about decorating his bike with taped on sparklers and strings of blackcats (firecrackers). We kept trying to caution him to be ready for the fact that this might not be what he was envisioning. He was undaunted.

Wednesday morning, fun-loving and empathetic daddy, helped Sam and Bridget spruce up their bikes with flags, and pinwheels. By 9:30 I began to see some signs that this parade might indeed be materializing as our neighbors the next block up were setting up what looked to be lemonade/water stands in their front yard. Sure enough, come 10 o'clock a crowd had assembled and the parade was on, complete with a touching singing of 'God Bless America' by all we participants.

After the parade was finished and we visited with the neighbors and had our share of lemonade and icee pops, we piled dh's Suburban with with kids, cupcakes, and a new recipe for cole slaw (which was pretty good and maybe even a repeat) and we went north to Aunt Terri's (my fun sister) and uncle Tuck's house for a bbq and some swimming. A fun day was had by all. We eventually put the cupcakes up high when we noticed we were losing track of how many of the treats the kids were inhaling ~laughing~

The afternoon was set into high drama when at one point tornado sirens sounded, the sky suddenly became a sick greenish-black color and the wind began packing some force. Those ominous blackish clouds had been rolling in for over half an hour but we did not think it would amount to anything more than a thunderstorm. Turns out there was rotation but no touch down and we all got to safety quickly.

We left well after dark to make our two hour drive home. We saw beautiful fireworks everywhere for almost the entire drive home. The peanut patrol crashed within minutes of us hitting the road and slept through. Fun-filled exhaustion I suppose.

God Love and Keep You