celebrating america

We got up on the 4th and I made my part of dinner (more on that in a minute).

This last week, we had decided that this would be a good time to pass out our pass along cards.  I made a flier, attached one of our cards, and decided to hand them out at the Riverton parade and the Centerville parade (which was the morning of the 4th).  At the Riverton parade, I walked some of the parade route and handed the flier/card to people.  At the Centerville parade, I put them on people's windshields. Between both parades, I handed out 500 cards!  We are hoping for at least one contact out of all of those cards.

After I got back, we got ready for the day and headed to the carnival.  It just wouldn't be the 4th of July without a few, fun rides!

It was hot at the carnival, and Kaden got too hot.  We headed to my parent's house to swim:

Finally, it was time to eat.  The menu this year:  BBQ tri-tip, ribs and chicken, pasta salad

Notice the watermelon juice dripping down his chin?

The ribs were really great!

My contributions to dinner (thanks, Pinterest!)

After dinner, the kids played soccer for awhile, and then we headed home.  We didn't stay up for fireworks (and we didn't get very many because of all the fires), but we did do a few.

Happy Birthday, America!  

We had a fun day celebrating, being together, and enjoying our freedoms.

fast fact friday # 19

Questions:

1.  Do you have 4th of July traditions?

2.  Do you watch/set off fireworks?

3.  What food do you eat for the 4th of July?

4.  What traditions did you have growing up for the 4th?

Answers:

1.  We do the same thing every year....the boys wear matching flag shirts, we attend a parade, we go swimming and have a BBQ, we do fireworks.

2.  In previous years, we watched the neighborhood fireworks at my parents house (and then watched the city ones all along the freeway on the drive home).  This year with all of the fires, they didn't do it (which was fine because Kaden was not interested).  We got a few small ones that we did at home during the day.

3.  Usually BBQ...this year it was chicken, ribs, tri-tip, pasta salad, salad, fruit, dessert.

4.  Growing up in Oregon, my family did a fireworks stand in front of my parent's grocery store.  We were there all day every day for 2 weeks.  The 3rd of July (my sister's birthday) we did a pizza party in the parking lot.  On the 4th, we took turns eating in shifts, watching the parade, and eating a million sno-cones. 

july 3rd

We headed down to Riverton late in the morning so that we could have a pool party with some of our cousins:

We had pizza for dinner, and then headed out for the parade.  It was hot.  

The boys got to high 5 some motorcycle policemen...pretty awesome.

 We saw some Army trucks, which of course, we super great!

We got lots of candy!

We only had a little bit of this (and no ear plugs, although I had them with me...that's a big deal!):

Yes, an actual picture of us together:

Did I mention it was hot?

Cute brothers:

Taking a break:

We were getting hot and tired, and almost left...we were so glad we waited!!

Totally great.  

It was a fun (hot) night, and the boys had a great time!