(j)aces: July 4th, 2013

The 4th of July is becoming one of my favorite holidays because of the traditions and the friends that surround it. The kids decided to participate in the parade again. I had said from the start that I was not volunteering to walk in it, but the girls decided to do it anyway - along with the Kile girls - and managed great. They made a float from the May's wagon. They decided to add a sign last minute and were possibly rushed - evidenced by the missing letter:

Jonathan in his special shirt. You sure don't think about when you buy these that they literally wear them for one day. Oh well.

Jonny also learned to clap on the 4th! He also inserts his version of "yea!" at the end. Thankfully, he doesn't tire of repeating this trick, cuz the kids sure don't!

The fabulous float - and the parade:

Jonathan reunited with his family - and brothers Jacob and Jonah. They all fit together so perfectly! We didn't even plan the matching outfits.

Jonathan reunited with his Grandma Connie. The kid never knew he had so many awesome relatives!

After the parade we had a brunch BBQ again and Andy made pancakes on the grill. Either we had more people here or we were slacking in the pancake production. Either way, it was a great time. This year we had an awesome dad who was pushing kids on the apple tree swing. I looked over at one point and saw a huge line of kids waiting for their turn (this is a picture of part of the line that I found). That was pretty cool to see.

After the brunch we drove over to Bend for fireworks. They have a great display from Pilot Butte that you can see from Andy's parents' backyard. Andy sets off fireworks with the kids beforehand. I think these are still fireworks his parents have left over from when Andy was a kid. These things never go bad - right?

Don't ask what the deal with the cammo is. Andy's mom had it somehow and Charlie fell in love with it. There was also a vest and shorts with it. He wore some combination of it every day we were there.