Happy Independence Day

I just love Independence Day.  I would say that it is my favorite holiday.  It is filled with family traditions.  It all starts off with going to the Murray parade.  My dad goes early in the morning and sets up chairs for the whole family.  He normally takes his PA system, but this year he could not get it working.  It was super sad, but a good time was still had by all.
The boys got TONS of candy from all the parade floats.  They had a good time waving to the people and seeing all the fun parade people.  Their were fire trucks and fire men, lots of cars, bands, and much more.
Megan did really good during the parade.  I wasn't sure how she would handle all the noise and such, but she was a champ.  She watched for a long time and then finally fell asleep for about twenty minutes.  Then enjoyed the rest of the parade.  She was not happy when we put her in her car seat to go back to my parents.  But she was happy when she got her bottle.
I got Megan a cute outfit for the 4th and I was super glad that I did.  I had flag shirts for all of us, but Megan didn't have any.  I also had a cute dress from my friend and it was super fun to see her in it for church.  It really is fun to dress a little baby girl. 
After the parade we went back to my parents.  We fed Megan and the boys played with their cousins.  It was nice to just relax and chat with family.  We had a nice BBQ and then hung out some more.
We went on our own family parade on the back of my dads trailer.  It is super silly and a good time.  My dad just drives around the neighborhood and this year Alex brought his parade candy and threw it to people who were outside their homes.  It was pretty fun to be silly. 

A little later I went to Julie's house down the street to help her fill up water balloons for Averee's birthday party.  It was nice in the shade and we made quick work of it.  After a while Tony and the boys came down and we left to pick up some dinner.  We went to Panda Express.  It wasn't as good as it normally is, but it was good enough. 

After dinner we went to Averee's birthday party.  She turned eight on the 4th.  The kids had a good time.  After the party and such we started doing snaps and fireworks.
Megan did really good during the fire works as well.  She did good until the very end.  She was tired and wanted to go to bed.  After all the fireworks were done we took the boys back to my parents down the street and changed them into their jammies.  Then we drove home and enjoyed all the fireworks from around the valley.  It was a good night.