What a weekend! We partied for four days until I, personally, had enough! I was an awesome celebration, though, and we had lots of fun and even learned a few things about our nation's roots.
We started with the Freedom Festival parade on July 4th. Brett went out the day before to set out a blanket just outside his work. It was a mad house! People are zealous about parade spots, and partying all night long! We just left a blanket and slept in our nice comfy beds and came back to see the parade in the morning. It was pretty funny that some of those people that partied all night while holding their parade spot--dozed through the parade and left early!!
Rowdy parade go-ers!
Also on July 4th, we all went to see the movie Epic. Just last week we saw Croods and Ellie did great. Apparently Epic isn't so captivating for a two-year-old. We hit 7 Peaks on Friday afternoon. We had time to play in the kiddie pool and go down the tube slides about 4 times before we fled before the coming storm. We got home and changed clothes just as an AWESOME storm broke open over Provo. I didn't take pictures, but we sat under our carport for an hour watching tons of lightening and down-pouring rain. The thunder and lightening was so great, but it unnerved the girls a bit. Ellie still reminded us days later how she heard the thunder and saw the lightening (and her eyes are the size of saucers as she's recounting the experience). We drove downtown for dinner at Los Hermanos. Lots of other people were ducking into the restaurants from the rained out carnival downtown. It seemed to wreak havoc on the outdoor festival!
We tried to time things so we didn't have early mornings following late nights. We went on Saturday morning to see the hot air balloon launch--but from continuing effects from last night's storm meant the launch was cancelled. Boohoo! I wish we'd known that before we woke our kids up for the sunrise launch! Smokey the Bear tried to salvage the event by giving out free Frisbee and there was tons of Frisbee play for about 30 minutes, and then the field cleared in an instant when it started to rain! Ellie was terrified of Smokey. She clung to me and when Smokey put his arm around me, she about lept out of my arms to be sure he didn't touch her!
We spent all day Saturday at the Walk of Freedom in Orem. We each got to choose a name of an immigrant (given to us or created by us if we were familiar with our ancestors) and we went through 10 educational stations to learn about experiences of early immigrants and core principles of our government, etc. It culminated with a mock oath of citizenship. We also watched a musical program that depicted some events surrounding the creation of the United States. I can't help but feel again how blessed we are to live in this nation, how grateful I am to so many who have sacrificed to preserve it, and how mighty the hand of the Lord is in guiding the events of our history. We have much to be grateful for and much to protect.
It was pretty cool, but lasted longer than we anticipated so we were pretty tired and hot and ready for a break.
We got lunch at Wendy's, then I took Ellie home for a nap while the other's continued on to the Colonial Festival at the other end of Scera park.
This is the best time out ever! :) I guess that depends on your perspective!
Boston immigrants--they made rope, washed clothes on a board, hauled water in a wooden yoke, watched a candle making demonstration, and more. So much to do and so little time!
I don't have pictures, but we also watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks while eating sno-cones. This was my first time having a sno-cone with ice cream in it. Pretty good!
Bo, Raimi, Ellie
Mia, Bo, Raimi, Ella, Ellie, Mandy
Despite the heat, a little cold, and being 3 days out from a ton of immunizations, Ellie always seems to have a smile for Mommy!
Katie loved playing with the older kids, especially Mia. Mandy played a mean game of Skip-Bo. We had a picnic, concert, family catching up, and an awesome firework show. We got home after 1 am. It was a killer night!
Monday morning, Independence Day, Brett, and Grandma N took the older girls to the 6 am hot air balloon launch. The weather conditions mandated that the balloons couldn't fly, but they inflated for show anyway. Don't the girls look so tired? Hah!
The new balloon this year was Darth Vader. (Cooh Perr)
Grandma N and Amanda on Cave In.
Daddy and Katie on Cave In.
Mom and Katie on Tube Run.
Dad and Mandy on Tube Run.
Ellie had her first time on the slides, and she did great! It was overcast, and not really crowded for a holiday so we had a great time.
