Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!!! We ventured into downtown McKinney to see the parade, go to the popcorn shop (0ur favorite place), have a picnic, check out old cars, and taste lots of yummy ice cream........

Before the parade (I was sure we needed to get there early so that we could find a decent parking spot), we decided to attempt some pictures. As you can see, we got some pretty good ones of our families and the kids.....

The kids were pretty cooperative at this point in the day.....

Waiting for the parade to start.....we were about an hour early, it was super crowded, but the kids did great.

Watching the parade, waving at the people in the parade.
After the parade, we had a picnic lunch on the grass. Then we went to the popcorn shop and got some cornfetti popcorn to eat during the fireworks that we were going to see later that night. We then ventured over to the antique car show and were going to check out the ice cream crank off (which I think sounded like lots of fun, we love ice cream, so this is the perfect thing for us, right?). Well, by the time we walked to the car show, the kids were hot and ready to go, especially Keira. So, I headed back to the car to cool her off and wait for the rest of the gang to come. I was a little turned around and ended up walking WAY out of the way, carrying a crying, hot, very unhappy baby. I got plenty of stares and evil looks. Once I got to the car, the rest of the family was there somewhat worried about me because I wasn't already there....We stopped and got ice cream and cones and had our own ice cream in the comfort of our house. It certainly wasn't the best of mornings, but the kids did have fun in the parade. I think Isaiah and Adriana were a bit disappointed in the parade and let me tell you why. Growing up in a very small town in Deckerville, Michigan we had parades during August - our town's homecoming. EVERY business, church, organization, had a float and almost every float had a bunch of candy that they would throw out to the kids. We would leave the parade with a BUNCH of candy. Not so much in McKinney- I think each of our kids received maybe 2 pieces of candy. My kids didn't know the difference, but I am sure the others did. They had fun though.
While the kids napped, Kristi and I were able to go to the movies and see The Proposal, very cute and funny (the boys went the day before and watched Transformers). After nap, we went to Grandma Lunn's house to play on the water slide one more time. Here is a picture at Grandma's house that we had to take. Keira didn't really warm up to Rick and Kristi (not a shocker, she doesn't warm up to many people) so, her sitting on Kristi's lap was a big accomplishment for her.
We went to Craig Ranch and watched fireworks. Again, I was sure we needed to get there early so that we could get a spot. Most of the time, whenever we get somewhere right on time, we can never find a spot to park, so we got there an hour early and the kids entertained themselves by racing, playing duck duck goose, red light green light, etc. The big boys played bubble break on their phones. We had a great parking spot and were able to get out quickly after the fireworks were over.
We hope you had a great fourth of July with your family. It was so nice to have my brother here with his family.