Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!!
We had a great weekend full of fun and sun... here are the highlights.

Parade Saturday morning in Flagstaff. We had front row seats, thanks to Mari who can get to a parade before it starts... we actually did make it there this year before it started but we still would not have gotten the great spot without Mari saving us a spot!

I think I mentioned last year, Flag lets EVERYONE into the parade. We were happy to see our unique favorite, the Star Wars Guild. It makes for a long parade, we left an hour and half into it.

(We took TWO cameras to the parade and left them BOTH in the car! We borrowed Mari's, I'll share some pics when I get them.)

Slip n' slide and water balloons. Saturday was hot enough to play in the water, so Steve pulled out the new slip n' slide. Ky and John wouldn't actually slide, they just ran through the little spray of water. Steve showed them up, he is a champion slider! We had water balloons too, two very unique things about our "water fight." #1 No one threw a balloon at anyone... they just threw them on the ground and thought it was cool to see them break. :) #2 We picked up the broken balloons... I guess Steve has "NEVER" picked up the balloon pieces before... :)

(Please try to ignore our "grass" it is a work in progress...)

BBQ. Saturday night we had some friends over for a BBQ. Steve went all American and got Carne Ranchera. It was great.

Fireworks! We LOVE fireworks!! Flag didn't have any this year due to the HOT DRY conditions. So we drove to Page for their fireworks. They were perfect.

I love the looks on Leo and Johnny's faces!

Johnny and his buddy, they were so cute at the fireworks!

Johnny celebrating with the finale.

I did say this was just the highlights right?!

Ok fine the whole story is that the camp ground was full when we got there so we ended up camping on the beach, not bad but noisy. AND then Kyla got sick. Sickie pukie on her brothers, in the car and in the tent. We pitched our tent at 11 pm, after the fireworks, and took it down at 1 am, 2 hours later. The second round of pukes in the tent which covered Johnny and his sleeping bag was the last straw, we packed it up and drove home. Ky had a bucket but you really can't blame a super tired 4 year old when she doesn't hit the bucket. So at 1 am Steve and I were trying to figure out what to do with a tent full of ickie blankets and sleeping bags. It was one of those things that we had to laugh at, if not I think I would have cried. We came up with this ingenious idea, I say inspiration.

It's our air mattress. It just looked like a nice big present, unfortunately this was not a pleasant one to open... It did the job though, the smell and slime were contained.

I have to give a BIG thanks to Steve who did most of the clean up duty, he came running out of the tent every couple minutes trying to keep himself from losing it too, but he made it. THANKS Beave! Plus he drove home in the middle of the night, getting here at 3:30 am, bright side, no traffic. :) So Page fireworks make the highlight list for the fireworks, for Steve's strong stomach, and for our heaven sent sense of humor.

Monday Movie. After a few hours of sleep and a few more hours of clean up, we went to see Toy Story 3! It was such a fun movie! I was nervous, my kids are such scardy cats and I had heard it was pretty intense, and it was, but they made it through. Kyla covered her eyes and hung onto Dad and Johnny spit at the screen. Thanks Mari and Amanda. No really, thanks, those two taught him to stick your tongue out and blow raspberries at the scary guys on the Disneyland rides, and it has stuck with John. So funny!

Miss Kyla showing off her "fireworks" accessory. This was Monday and she still looked a little green.

It was a great Fourth of July weekend! We love having Steve home from work, we can't get enough time with him!

We are so grateful for the amazing country we live in, the freedoms we have, and the people who have sacrificed so much for us.