Fun on the Fourth

We had quite the eventful Fourth of July this year! The three of us met our good friends at our local Freedom Parade and the kids had a blast watching all the colorful floats, pageant girls princesses, and horses. The parade is a pretty big deal around here and people camp out the night before to stake all the good spots, so we were expecting to be standing in the background. As luck would have it, this incredibly sweet old lady let us sit on one of her unused blanks front and center, which turned out being extra fabulous because it was SO FLIPPING HOT and if I had to stand for more than a minute I probably would have passed out (that sounds dramatic but I actually have a tendency to pass out more than the average person).

At this point we had to feed emma ice cream to help her through the heat. It was for the best. 

Ella decided it was much more comfy to watch the parade this way.

We didn't make it much longer after these next two pictures were taken because the girls (as you can see) had had about enough of the sun and heat.

After spending a wonderfully relaxing afternoon at home, we met up with our sweet friends again to hit up the Freedom Carnival! We were all super excited to take the girls on some rides and quickly bought tokens to ride the night away. It was only after the tokens had been purchased that we realized the girls were both too short to ride on anything but the ferris wheel AND that even with the pack of tokens we purchased, we didn't even have enough for all of us to ride. So we begrudgingly bought some more and rode that stupid ferris wheel like there was no tomorrow. The little ladies actually loved it, so not all was lost ;)

Still unsure if we like this crazy ride or not

Turns out we LOVED this crazy ride!

After our very short-lived carnival experience, we grabbed some mixings for root beer floats (because we are American) and headed back to our place for some front yard fireworks! 

Emma's face here cracks me up!

Handling their manly duties like champions!

Emma loved the sparklers and only burned me once!

Ella, on the other hand, was less than amused. This girl requires more impressive entertainment ;)

Both girls were REALLY enthralled by the water bucket we threw all the used fireworks in...leave it to toddlers to love the thing you spent the least on the most. 

Emma LOVED running through the smoke bombs. Hopefully there is no lasting damage from this activity.

And then dad brought out the big fireworks...

Eventually the girls were too exhausted to sit up anymore. It's rough having such a fun-filled day!

We're so grateful for this amazing country and the wonderful freedoms we enjoy. We love America!