The balloons were so beautiful that I'm posting a lot of pictures of them.
The boys loved Smokey the Bear, but he sailed off and we never saw him again.
Uncle Blake! Uncle Blake spent the 4th of July with us. The boys were very excited.
Tony the Tiger was also a favorite.
Some of the boys wished they had a 'do like this.
The balloons sailed up to the south and then headed north and then came back over the field to play some games. These helium balloons were strung over the field and the hot air balloon pilots tried to pop them.
Uncle Ryan and cousin Emily were there.
Junior found a shell in the field.
I love this picture of us--it is so typical.
On Friday evening Brandon staked out a spot on the parade route for us with blankets. A lot of people spent the night to get a good spot (and it's like a big party). Late in the night a HUGE thunderstorm woke us up and I wondered how all of the people spending the night out on University Avenue were enjoying it.
We crammed in our spot on our wet, dirty blankets along with around 250,000 others to enjoy the parade sights, and the otter pops. Later when we asked the boys what their favorite part of the parade was, they said the otter pops and free pancakes.
Aunts Lori, and Crystal, Uncle Ryan and cousins Emily and Megan joined us.
Usually a formation of F-16's kick off the parade by thundering past, but this year it was a military helicopter.
We thought this was an interesting motto--"If I could, I would"??? Hmmm.
Captain America!
Next year Brandon hopes to be this guy in the parade.
This tank was the boys' favorite.
We were surprised to see Onion Ring's violin teacher in the parade.
and lots of vegging out. That's all I wanted to do.
The boys really loved these glow worms. They liked to watch them and think of things that they looked like.
Buttermilk Sky: It looks like creatures of the darkness are being unleashed.
Buttermilk Sky: An animal pooped and an alien shot it with a ray gun and it disintigrated.
Onion Ring: Long monsters endlessly rising from the depths.
Onion Ring: Great big long snakes.
Onion Ring: A great fortress going up in smoke.
Junior: It looks like poo!
We love the USA!
