We usually aren't home for the 4th of July as John gets a day of vacation from work. We usually take advantage of this and try to go somewhere. This year, we were excited to be staying home for a few reasons 1) Our neighbors usually have a party, including consumption of alcoholic beverages AND the release of some very big fireworks. Every year we've been home, I've been certain they were going to burn down our house. It's nice to be home in case someone needs to call 911. 2) William is finally old enough to enjoy the celebrations! Hurray! I was so excited to take him to his first parade, fair, and fireworks!
The kids in their red, white & blue!
Red white and blue!
The kids in their red, white & blue!
Red white and blue!
Smiling and holding his baby sister! What a combination!
The girls
The boys
Mama getting ready to take Amelia to the parade!
The weather was FAR from cooperative! It was pouring down rain! I was so sad that we weren't going to be able to see the parade until our friends called and said the parade was still on with the exception of the marching bands. Their son was going to be on a float with his boy scout pack and so they knew it would still be happening. I STILL really wanted to go and the parade route went about 6 blocks away from our house so we decided to try for it.
Amelia's rain gear - also included an umbrella over Mama
Daddy's rain gear (he pulled the wagon with William & our friend's daughter in it)
William watching the parade - he was fascinated by all the vehicles!
Oooooo! Big trucks!
One of the big trucks
After the parade, we went home for some lunch and to dry off. Our friends came over in the late afternoon and we grilled out for dinner. After dinner, we walked over to the local Freedom Fest fair which is about 4 blocks away.
Playing in the bouncy slide at the fair (this picture is from the previous day when we walked over to check things out)
Sliding down the big slide all by himself
The slide is a little scary! He is going down backwards here.
William getting his face painted at the fair
He did a pretty good job holding still for the lady painting his face! 
The finished product! He didn't do a very good job keeping his hands off of it, so it got everywhere right away.
Playing one of the free kids games
Playing with his balloon hat - he picked it and then decided he didn't want to wear it
Trying on William's balloon hat
Amelia crashed in the baby carrier - in the background you can see the fair rides and wet sidewalk from the rainy, rainy day!
When we got home, we enjoyed some ice cream on the driveway while we waited for the fireworks to start as we usually can see them pretty well from our house...until it started to rain. Then we enjoyed the company of about 3903942 mosquitoes in the garage until it became clear that the fireworks show had been canceled due to the weather. So sad. The saddest part was the huge meltdown William had due to being up so far past his bedtime without any fireworks to balance it out. It was a good thing we were able to catch the make up show the following night (they moved it earlier so William was able to see it). What a great (wet) day!
