We started off the 4th in our usual way, with the subdivision’s bike parade. Aiden and Brady elected to ride in the wagon while Logan chose his bike. Knowing how fast he can be, I decided to take my bike along as well to keep tabs on him and the other big kids.

I seriously did not buy red, white and blue shirts on purpose, but it worked out that way. Here is the crew pre-bike parade:

You would think I was the annoying paparazzi with the way these two (Aiden and Brady) were acting! They would cover their faces every time I tried to get a shot.

There we go…sort of :) We woke up early and decorated the wagon and Logan’s bike before heading over to the parade at 8:40. We assembled and got started by 9:00

Here is the front of the pack. Logan is on the right in red. For some reason, he thought it was a race. However, he was super tired that morning and got pretty frustrated because he couldn’t keep up with the (really) big kids in front. He pulled over, sort of threw his bike down, sat on the ground and told me “I failed”. It about broke my heart! He said he wanted to keep going, but he was “just so tired”…this as he wiped tears away from his eyes with the backs of his hands. I explained to him that we weren’t in a race and he wasn’t even allowed to pass the riders in the front (older kids who were setting the pace). He got back up and sped off without another word to me. Later, he told me he was just kidding about being tired. (shrug) Go figure. I was proud of him for getting back on his bike and for getting over his frustration, but it was a moment of mothering where I thought, “gosh…I hope I said the right things and made him feel even a little better…”

Meanwhile, Brian and the little boys didn’t even hardly enter the main bike parade course. We spun around the neighborhood and found them hanging out around turn #1. Jeff had Jackson (not his child) and Matthew (his 3rd) in one wagon while Brian had Brady and Aiden in ours. All the boys were having a good time trying to hold each other’s hands from wagon to wagon. too cute.

The day was blazing hot so we all hit the pool after – awesome!

That night, we killed time while waiting for our 8:45 departure for fire works. Here are the boys on the patio…first experience with smoke bombs. Aiden’s quote was the best: “they’re stinky…I love them!”

and here we are at the fireworks. We arrived around 9:00 and had some time to kill before the 9:30 show. Good thing we had lots of sparklers. Well…good thing for the kids, but not so much for daddy who had to light them all. Our kids elected PJs for the evening.

All I wanted was to get a good shot of the three boys together with sparklers. My camera was malfunctioning, the sparklers kept puttering out before I could snap a picture, or the three of them would wander out of frame. Sadly, here is the best one I got: blurry. booo hooo.

I think of all the kids, Logan (in the yellow chair) and Ella (in pink) enjoyed the display the most…or at least they were the most vocal about it. Both of them were oooohin and aaaaahing more than anyone I have EVER seen…complete with jump-ups out of their chairs and “oh my gosh – did you see THAT one?!” Ella declared, over and over, that it was the best fireworks display ever!! Aiden sat quietly and watched, Brady could hardly be contained after the first few went off. After some initial fireworks appreciation, he spent a good deal of his time wandering around asking everyone for more sparklers…or Pete for cookies (shrug)  

All in all, a great and funny day! Happy 4th of July!!!