4th of July Festivities

We had a very busy Independence Day weekend. Saturday morning we headed to the Dundalk parade that we go to every year. There is a McDonald's near the parade route and we meet there for breakfast most years. We met my parents, Jeremy, and Jill around 8:00. We ate a quick breakfast and then drove over into the neighborhood to park our cars. Then we walked over to "our spot" where Aunt Bev, Kim, Dougie, Nadean, Vester, and Austin were already seated. They saved us some space for our chairs.

Peyton was very excited to go to the parade. The night before he asked me what we were going to see at the parade, and I told him we'd see firetrucks and bands. He wanted to know what animals there would be in the parade. I told him there would probably be horses and dogs. He argued with me insisting that there would be zebras in the parade. I'm not sure that I ever convinced him that there would not be zebras.

Peyton was so well behaved at the parade. Here he is before the parade started. Kim gave him this flag and he waved it for the entire parade. I don't think he set it down.

Here's Kyle and I.

And here is the rest of the family.

Although the temperature was only around 80 degrees in the morning, it was so hot at the parade! We were seated on the side of the street with absolutely no shade and the sun was directly in our eyes. Everyone was pretty hot, but I was absolutely miserable. Eventually, I decided to walk down the street a bit and stand under a tree. The difference in temperature was dramatic.

The parade lasted about three hours, but that parade is known for lots of long breaks between the paraders. There parade always starts out with lots of firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars driving with their sirens blaring. Peyton covered his ears because it was so loud, but he loves emergency vehicles. There were several high school bands and the Ravens band marching in the parade. I think every politician from Baltimore County and even Martin O'Malley and Bob Ehrlich were in the parade as well. We did see one horse, but that was the only live animal. There was a costumed pig, turtle, and the Chick-Fil-A cow (Peyton's favorite...) too though. But Peyton counted all of those as animals too.

After the parade was over, we went back to my parents' house for a small cookout. Peyton took a nap after lunch. Then he went outside and played in his pirate ship pool. That canon actually shoots water when it is hooked up to a hose. Peyton loves to get people wet.

Kyle got attacked with a water gun, but promptly grabbed one of his own and fought back against Peyton.

After the pool, Jeremy, Jill, and Aunt Bev came over. My parents cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and we also ate cucumber salad, Suddenly Salad, and corn on the cob. We had an ice cream pie for dessert. Yummy. We went home around 6:00 because we were all exhausted from waking up at 6:30 am and being in the sun all day.

Sunday afternoon there was a cookout at Nadean's house. We went over there after Peyton woke up from his nap. He was pretty excited about that party because Nadean has a pool and Peyton couldn't wait to swim. As soon as we got there, Peyton started to beg Kyle to get in the pool with him, but we made Peyton wait until after he ate some dinner. Finally, we let him get in the pool and he had a blast with Kyle, Vester, Austin, Bo, and Dougie swimming and playing with a beach ball.

Eventually Peyton was shivering so bad that I made him get out. He did not want to be removed from the pool at all. I had to bribe him with a chocolate chip cookie, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

It was really hot again, approaching 100 degrees. There was a tent set up in the backyard though, so we all sat in the shade. It actually didn't seem as hot as it did the day before at the parade because we weren't sitting in the sun.

We left Nadean's around 7:30 to drive up to Fullerton to watch the fireworks. We set up our chairs on the field and then Kyle and Peyton took a walk to get us drinks. When they came back, Peyton sat for a little while and read some books. Then he got a little antsy again, so Kyle took him over to the music stage, where Peyton rocked out to the band. Kyle said he was dancing and would have started a mosh pit and/or crowd surfed if he could have.

My parents arrived while Kyle and Peyton were at the stage. They set up their chairs and blanket and then my dad went to get some funnel cake. Yum. Mom brought some Mickey Mouse cards and she and Peyton played Memory while they were waiting for the fireworks to start. I think Peyton beat her every time.

The time passed pretty quickly and then it was time for the fireworks. Peyton sat on Kyle's lap. I don't think Peyton blinked for the entire show, which lasted a good 25 minutes.

It was a good show. Here is one picture of the fireworks.

When the fireworks were over, we walked back to our car and it took us until about 11:00 before we actually made it home. It took a few minutes to get off of the parking lot and then a while to drive because we had to take a detour due to the crowd control. Peyton passed out on the way home, of course. He sort of woke up when we took him in the house, but I don't think he was ever fully with us.

We had a good two days of parades, cookouts, and fireworks. The only downside was the scorching heat.