Friends and Independence Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I actually had 3 days off in a row so I was able to enjoy the festivities with my family. On Friday, Doc had a friend come over to play. He was very excited about it being HIS friend.

Doc and his friend D rode bikes for quite awhile.

 Of course, Mr. X and GQ were out too.

And what fun is outside without sidewalk chalk?

The kids really seemed to have fun and played hard. I'm glad Doc is making his own set of friends that he identifies. Life here is so different than in MI...

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I love that we can show our patriotism. I love that we can honor our troops. I love that it is a good time to spend with family. The sermon on Sunday related the patriots to Christians. It was a good sermon and definitely left you thinking. We went to a parade. It was a small one but the kids enjoyed it anyways. Definitely different than the large one we're use to that ends with a clown band every year.

Waiting for the parade to start.

We made GQ sit in the stroller after a time because he kept running in the road while we were waiting. The road was blocked off to traffic but we still don't want to encourage that behavior.

Excited because he could hear the beginning of the parade with the firetrucks and police cars.

Doc waving a flag that was handed to him.

Mr. X got a flag as well. He commented on the breeze making the flag move. Personally, I was thankful for the breeze.

And GQ got a baby flag to wave.

After the parade, we went home and had some lunch. The younger two napped before our cook-out with the neighbors. We just grilled hot dogs and corn and had strawberry shortcake that I made. I was proud of myself with how it turned out. We then went out to the beach for fireworks over the ocean. It was a beautiful night and the kids enjoyed playing on the beach with their glow sticks. I got some really good pictures on my phone but didn't take any with the camera. The fireworks show at the beach was much better than the small one over the river we went to the night before. Definitely will go back to the beach for fireworks again sometime. Not so sure about the parade, but we're in a new town so we need to make some new traditions. :)