Independence Day 2012

Everyone was feeling very patriotic on the morning of July 4th.  Everett had his flags...

and the rest of us were decorating Emily's bike...

so that when she was all dressed...

and her bike was finished...

we could head to the parade!

She had some time to hang out with her friend Sydney...

before she had to start pedaling her way along the parade route.

As usual, the route ran in front of our house (top right corner of pic below) which has a decent incline...

But Emily never stopped...

and made it all of the way up to the party in the park!

Once there, Emily met up with some other friends (brothers Tyler and Jake),

bounced in the bounce house,

and before too long, was sliding down the water slides.

We borrowed an EZ Up this year and had a nice set up and place to eat and talk with neighbors.

We were right next to our friends that have Sydney (2 months younger than Emily) and Carter (1 month older than Everett).  Everett, was having a lot of fun with Carter - sharing his flags,

playing Ring Around The Rosie,

and getting a dental exam.

He was his usual, happy self.

Especially when he found some other friends' beads!

As soon as I put one around his neck, he wanted all of them...

and he dared anyone to TRY to take them back!

After a while, it was time for the kid's games to start.  So, we made our way over to the correct area and Everett played with the hula hoops...

while Emily paid close attention to the game demonstration.

Everett seemed happy once the games began because everyone was watching the watermelon rolling and not noticing that he was pilfering the balls.

But, it couldn't last forever and people did spot the totally adorable boy with all of the goodies.  And one of them couldn't resist sharing her crazy headband with him.

(Emily thinks he is saying, "get this thing off of me right now" in the picture above.)

There were lots of fun games for the kids and Emily enjoyed participating...

and again, Everett found another spot that was ignored while the games were going on.

He only had a few minutes of fun...

before the big kids came back and he had to get out.  It was fine though, because it was almost the end of the party at which time we left, fed the kids dinner, and drove over to Aunt Patty and Uncle Kevin's house for more fun!

To say that Emily and Everett were tired and ready for bed that evening is an understatement.  Oh, and we were too!