Happy Independence Day!

Katie was happy to have another holiday to celebrate! In the morning, we got up to decorate Katie's wagon, so she was ready to ride in our neighborhood's annual parade.  She asked Garyldine to pull the wagon in the parade, so of course she had to pick up a few patriotic accessories for her to wear.

The parade route ended at our park with a picnic and games.  Katie's favorite thing to eat there is always the popcorn! After eating, Katie played on the playground for awhile and was happy to find one of her classmates.

After her play time, we walked back home and then Garyldine and my mom took Katie to see Garyldine's husband, Jim, at work. When the visiting was done, we started the long wait for the fireworks.

While we waited, Jennifer and I decided to buy some small fireworks, so Katie could experience them up close. Katie didn't really enjoy the noise of the fireworks, but I think she liked watching some of them. Our dogs, on the other hand, didn't like any part of the fireworks - especially nervous Sadie. All in all though, it was a fun day!

Garyldine was excited about her new accessories for the parade! 

She let Grandma borrow them for awhile. 

We started our walk to the beginning of the parade route, and then we... 

…waited for the starting time. 

While we waited, I let Garyldine wear my glitter-covered hat to share some glitter with her. 

Then my mom had a turn. 

There were a lot of people who took part in the parade. 

When I passed Grandpa, I stopped for a picture and spread my glitter on him too! 

My favorite part of the parade is getting my popcorn at the end. 

I played for awhile and was so excited when I found my friend! 

I had fun going to Jim's work to wish him a Happy 4th of July!

After resting for a bit, we went out to light our personal fireworks. I was more interested in blowing bubbles.

My favorite "fireworks" were the Pop-Its that I just threw on the ground.

I sat with Grandma to watch the rest of the fireworks.

This was about as big as any of our fireworks got!

I didn't like any whistling fireworks, so I sat like this a lot of the time.

My mom tried to teach me a patriotic song for the day. I learned it quickly, but by nighttime, I started thinking the title was "Yankee Doodle Donkey."

Sadie was really scared when the bigger fireworks started around our neighborhood, so we gave her our homemade version of a Thunder Shirt. She still tried to hide under the couch, so...

…I read her a book to try to calm her.

We went out to watch some of the fireworks in our neighborhood. I took a few princesses with me.

Happy 4th of July!