Happy 4th of July!

According to my children, today is the best day ever!  They get lots of parade candy, they don't have to do chores, they get to eat hotdogs and melons, plus they get to stay up to watch fireworks.  Yep, sounds pretty much like a perfect day!

Here they are, anxiously waiting for the parade to start.

This little guy was all excited about the tractors in the parade.

He gathered a few pieces of candy, but then he just wanted to eat a lollipop and watch all the fun.

The day was warm, and someone was handing out ice-pops instead of tossing candy.  What a great idea!

After the parade, we stopped to watch a chainsaw artist.  He really did some amazing work.  I loved the two-tone look of this particular carving.

Here was an attempt to get a photo by a cool tree that had exposed, mossy roots.  We had some red-white-and-blue coordination going on, which was nice.  

Sometimes people are surprised at how many photos I take each month.  I won't disclose the exact amount (ahem), but it is somewhere in the thousands.  With kids, though, it can take tons of tries to get everyone looking, smiling, and in a decent position.  

This is a more realistic version of the previous photo.  The youngest was making a run for it and inadvertently took out his brother in the meantime.  Our oldest was then thrown off balance and, well, it was like watching dominoes as everyone toppled over.  Fortunately no one was hurt and our holiday ended with fantastic memories and fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!