The Fourth!

The fourth is always a fun holiday. We always eat good food and have a good time, but the stress that can mark other holidays doesn't seem to inhibit this one.

This year we got up and went to the Jamestown Parade festival. The kids ate their breakfast when we got there at 10 if that tells you anything about our schedule lately. Usually they are in bed by 7:30 at the latest and up by 8:30 at the latest. Ever since Skylar broke her leg and then we have had visitors in the area, we have been staying up late and sleeping in later.

The kids enjoyed the parade (mainly the candy and the little flags they were given), but Skylar apparently thought she was going to get to ride in a float again this year like she did last year. She was a little disappointed when we set up shop on the sidewalk with everyone else!

The beginning of the parade. I really like the Jamestown parade when the kids are this age because it is shorter and easier to attend than Greensboro's downtown.

Recognize this? This was the float that Ken and Skylar rode last year.

And evidently Jim Carrey participated as well… ? Not sure why...

After the parade, we headed over the Nana and Pop's house for a last visit with Gigi and Gpop before they headed back to ole' TN. :(

We relaxed and played for a while before making some homemade ice cream. Yum!

I haven't had homemade ice cream since my Pa-paw used to make it, so its a little nostalgic for me. Skylar absolutely loved it!

We might have to invest in a ice cream maker… you know, for the nostalgia factor.

Skylar helped Nana and Papa make the ice cream. You can see what was important to her:

She told me, very seriously, that she had to lick it because it was too thick to go in the sink.

Watching the machine and occasionally adding more ice or salt.

After we left Nana and Papa's house, the plan was to meet my Mom and go to High Point's festival and stay for the fireworks that night, but we had a huge thunderstorm go through the area, so we opted to hang out at home for a while until the storm passed.

With the kiddos are dolled up in their pjs, we headed out way past their bedtime to find a good place to park for HP's fireworks since we had never seen their's before. We finally settled on just parking in the park and paying $10 before we ran out of time looking for a spot.

We parked and walked up the hill just as the show started, and ended up with some of the best seats I've ever had for fireworks.

Grey liked them, and kept pointing up and saying, "ohhhh" which is his form of wow.

Poor baby about fell asleep, but barely made it.

Skylar liked the fireworks, but was afraid of the loud sounds. Smart mom here forgot to bring some earplugs for her even though I knew this would happen…

She kept one ear pressed up again the stroller and used her pillow to block the other ear. She said her favorites were the little loud fireworks and the ones that looked like fireflys.

She did smile during the grand finale!

And here are some of my favorites from the night. I was pretty pleased with how they came since I've never tried to photograph them before and I just assumed they would all be blurry.