My favorite holiday is the 4th of July.  It has been since I was a kid.  1 reason for that is the fireworks and the other is because it the one time of year where our whole family got together and just hung out and had fun (I’m talking grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers, all of us around 40 people).  We would hoof it up the street and participate in the neighborhoods annual parade and picnic.   The last couple of years for whatever reason some family members have stopped coming.  That makes me sad and I miss the closeness that we used to have but I guess sometimes that’s part of growing up.

Anyway, last year Monkey discovered the awesomeness of fireworks and has talked about them off and on throughout the year.  We planned to go to four different fireworks shows, the one in our town, Sunnyvale’s Sunnyfest, Addison’s Kaboom Town, and then the DAC’s annual 4th of July fireworks display.  We made it to 3 of them and we were at Kaboom Town but it was just too hot and we were too tired so we opted to get some nice cold shakes and head home early.

At our town’s fireworks display I was a little worried about Princess P but after about 5 minutes she came around and is a fan now too.

Here is Monkey at Sunnyfest, this look says a million things – I’m tired, I’m excited, I love fireworks, and in 4 hours you’re going to be cleaning massive amounts of throw up off my bed.

Monkey sitting and watching the fireworks.  This will also be remembered as a bad day in my parenting history.  We started off on the side of the highway waiting for the fireworks to start.  The grass was really high and up past the door of our car.  Monkey said he had to go to the bathroom, I didn’t believe him and told him that I didn’t want to open the door because gross bugs would get in the car.  Well he ended up close to hysterics because he DID have to go and when I opened the door he lost it.  We buckled him up and drove down the street to a gas station.  We ended up with a better view of the fireworks and I don’t think Monkey is harboring any ill will but I still feel like total crap.

On the 4th of July we headed out to the neighborhood where I grew up, where my sister and grandmother still live (next door to each other).  It was hot and it really made me miss the rain that we got the two previous years.  Being out in light drizzle definitely beats 100+ temps.  Poor Princess P you can really see she is hot and Monkey is such a sweat box.

Here is some of the parade, we picked up more people as we walked the streets.  We also had a fire engine, the kids thought that was really neat.  Oh, and Lady Liberty there, I’m pretty sure she was tipsy or maybe a little past that.  She acted like she was feeling pretty good

And this, this, is why I love the 4th of July.  Huge picnic in the middle of the street and neighbors and families just hanging out and spending time together.

This is Princess P with her second cousin, my cousin.  She, my cousin, loves to hang out with Princess P.  It is so sweet and it reminds me of my being her age and hanging out with her older sister.  It will be fun to watch their bond and they grow up.

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