July 4th Celebrations!

 We had a fun 4th of July!  We started our celebrations on the 3rd with some small fireworks outside our house that Grandma Comeford had gotten.

Calin was loving hanging out with Gracie and kept doing everything she did.  She would lay down on her stomach to watch and so would he.  Then she'd sit up on her knees and he would follow her.  It was pretty hilarious. 

Having fun with sparklers! 

 On the morning of the 4th we woke up and got ready early to head downtown St. George for the 4th of July parade.  Thankfully they did it at 9am and it was a little bit cloudy so it was not as hot as it could have been! The kids enjoyed watching the parade and getting some candy while they were there too!

Loving these two and their matching patriotic outfits! 

Very intently watching the parade! 

 After the parade we headed back to Washington for their fun runs and games and booths they have.  Calin was not even going to get anywhere near the running races.  Maybe one year he'll surprise us and decide he's ready to race, but for now poor Robby is so disappointed Calin hasn't inherited his love of running a race! We thought Clara was going to do it, but she quickly changed her mind once it came time to race.

Once up to the starting line she got very nervous and was not super excited about it.  I was on the other end waiting for her. 

She ran about 5 steps and then turned and headed right back to Robby.  Silly girl. 

 After the park we were all exhausted and roasting.  The clouds had cleared and July heat was killing all of us.  Clara was very tired which was part of why I think the race was a little overwhelming.  She was in great need of her morning nap! We went home to rest for a little while before the afternoon and evening festivities.  That afternoon we played in the water on the trampoline with sprinklers and water balloons.  Then we enjoyed a delicious BBQ for dinner.

I love watching her see things around her.  Her expressions as she experiences new things are so fun! 

Fun on the trampoline with water balloons, cousins, and friends! 

These four could not get enough of the water ballon fun! 

Clara was content just playing with water balloons outside of the trampoline.  

She really loves that balloon! 

A little bike riding after the water balloon fun! 

 After the water balloons we got dried off and headed over to the Salley's for some fireworks with their neighborhood. A couple of houses had all pooled together to do fireworks.  It was quite the party out on the lawn with popcorn and all!

Getting ready for the show!  Tracee and Austin got the kids these cool light up sticks and they were loving playing with! 

 Clara LOVED the fireworks.  These three pictures demonstrate how most of her reactions to the fireworks went. We had some going on the ground and then there were tons going up in the air all around us from lots of different people putting on their own fireworks show! She was loving it!

Calin was also loving it and his light up stick.  He also loved the popcorn and
was carrying it around as he watched all the fireworks. 

After the neighborhood firework show we headed up onto Foremaster to see if we could find a good spot to watch the St. George city fireworks.  We got super lucky and ended up finding a parking spot right on the road with a perfect view of the fireworks.  The street was packed and lined with cars so I don't know how we happened upon such a great spot! Clara had fallen asleep since it was almost 10:00 so she missed most of the big city fireworks. She woke up right at the end to see a few. Calin loved them! A great 4th of July!