So, I'm a few days late posting these...but that seems to be my trend lately.
On the morning of the 4th, we met up with a bunch of friends and participated in the Normal Heights Neighborhood 4th of July Parade! It was so freakin cute. Ridiculous. All the kids were riding in their red-white-&-blue-decked-out strollers, bikes, trikes, pack & plays, etc.
We took Ez's Radio Flyer Fire Engine over and it ended up being perfect for the occasion :)
It was impossible to get everyone in our group in one picture - we ended up spreading out as we headed down the parade route.
Mama and Ez. He kept waving at the people standing outside their homes...he's such a ham.
He even let his buddy share his fire truck :)
Afterwards, there were all kinds of sweets and things being passed out. Naturally, Jordan grabbed an ice cream sandwich...and naturally, my obsessive child took it from him for a couple bites. I'm telling you...this kid...
AHHHHHH! Sugar!
Ezra-wrangling was necessary after the ice cream. Kid went crazy.
Ez, signing "scared" for me. Yes, I make him go through his signs just for fun. Yes, I love the way he looks when he does this one.
The kiddos, post-parade, pre-sugar-induced, past-naptime-meltdowns.
He LOVES cars, dude.
After Ezra's nap, we packed up some food and toys and headed over to Bird Park to settle in and watch the fireworks. Ez was pretty happy about the whole situation and really liked running around, butting into adults' games of catch, ladder ball, etc.
We got there around 4:30, knowing that we'd have to get there early enough for a decent spot for the fireworks at 9pm. Lots of walks, soccer playing, car-pushing, wrestling, dancing, tantrum-avoiding-tickles took place during those hours ;-)
There was even moment of snuggle time...
And some deep conversations...
But soon enough, it was bounce-up-and-down-on-mom-until-she-admits-defeat-and-gets-back-up time.
So, it finally got dark....and at around 8:50, we started to get Ezra ready. All excited. He'd even learned to sign "fireworks" just for this. We were
ready.
This was taken just after the giant firework-explosion...he kept signing "more!" and I was a little more than sad when I had to keep explaining that there wouldn't be any fireworks this year :( We did wait it out, though, until about 9:45...then packed it up and went home. By the time we got settled in, the local news had picked it up and was already talking about the giant ball of fireworks. Apparently, it was ALL of them. For the whole show. All at once. In 3 separate locations. Crazy.
We still called it a win, as we got to spend almost every moment of the day outside and Ez even got to have a dance party with the little girl on the blanket next to us ;-)
