4th of July 2009

We celebrated a pretty low-key 4th of July. We got some family time in, as well as watching a parade and seeing fireworks in Madison.



Brendan wasn't too interested in the coin dig...he wanted to play in the sand with his tow truck. And that's what he did the entire time. We "hid" a couple coins for him to find, and when he came across them he was pretty excited, but then it was back to the tow truck. :)




Marci (bottom left in pink hat), Brendan (bottom right in overalls) and all the other digging kids.



Brendan and Great-Uncle Chuck waiting for the parade to begin.




Brendan caught on pretty quickly to the waving thing. He enjoyed watching the horses...

...and waving at the fire trucks...

...but his favorite were the tractors. Brendan waved like crazy at the tractors. This 0l' farmer stopped his tractor in the middle of the parade and asked if Brendan wanted a ride. Before I could even respond, Brendan ran out to him...so he got on the tractor and I grabbed the camcorder. Brendan rode for about a block and then got down. He has been waking up every morning talking about riding the tractor in the parade. And we've watched this video clip about a hundred times. And every time he smiles while watching it.





Brendan showing his American pride while trying to convince someone to take him for a tractor ride.



Brad (mid-throw) and Chuck playing cornhole.




Brendan playing on the slide.





Grandma (Mary) playing with sparklers. Showing us how it's done. :)



The guys watching Brad try to light a snake firework.




The kids (l->r: Marci, Alyssa, Brendan & Charlie) holding hands and watching the colored smoke bombs.



Alyssa enjoying her sparkler.



Marci safely holding her sparkler away from her body (as instructed by Grandma.)



Brad catching me mid-mouthful of popcorn. 6 months pregnant. Stuffing my face. :)


Brendan waving the American flag.

Brendan didn't want to let go of the flag. The kids decided to put on a parade of their own with their bikes, and they all attached flags and drove around for us to watch.

The fireworks in Madison were very good. We tried to get Brendan down to bed before they started because he hadn't had much of a nap and was pretty tired, but once the first round started there was no going to sleep. He became wide awake. And we're really glad he stayed up because it was so much fun to listen to his commentary and his excitement. The best part was during the finale, he made us laugh in true Brendan fashion. You'll have to watch to find out. :)




Brendan and Mom taking a nap in the chair at home, all worn out from the 4th of July weekend.