Today We Celebrate Our Independence Day!

**Warning: Photo heavy blog...enter at your own risk!**

Two weekends ago was the Fourth of July, and unlike most years we celebrated the holiday at home.  Since we moved to Kenosha, we have only been home for the Fourth a couple of times and one of those was right after Asher was born.  Since we were home this year and didn't have anything else going on, we did our best to enjoy the day with our boys and take part in the celebratory activities of our area.

The first thing that we did was go to the parade in Racine.  From what I read online, Racine has one of the Midwest's largest and most colorful Independence Day parades.  According the Racine 4th Fest website, USA Today said in 2008 that it was one of the Top Ten places to be in the country for the holiday.  So although I was not sure if it would hold up to the hype, I knew it had to be better than the Quincy parade we attended last year (which was really just a parade of random traffic) and it also fit my main criteria: It began in the morning.  Finding a parade in the area that did not start between 12pm-2pm was a difficult task, but one that was important because that timeframe is nap time and if we wanted to catch the fireworks that evening, naps were a MUST.  So, after a quick breakfast, we headed up to Racine to see what we could see.

We found a spot near the end of the parade route about a half hour before the parade began.  Then we had to wait for it to make it down to our site.  The boys and I had a good time enjoying the beautiful day, people watching and snacking.  At around 9:20(+/-) the parade units (led by local firetrucks) began to come and we enjoyed watching them pass by.  The boys both loved watching all the trucks go by, but we did have to cover our ears due to the loud sirens.  What came next though was both Asher and Avery's obvious favorite: The Tractors!  Both of them pretty much had to pick their jaws up from the sidewalk as we watched all sorts of brand-new shiny tractors pass by.  Avery loved them so much that he was squealing and clapping as they went by and we didn't even know he knew how to clap!

Tree Hugger

Love those baby blues!

Brothers!

The fact that Asher his driving his jet ski on Avery's head in this picture makes me laugh.

Watching the parade go by.

Fire Trucks!

Tractors Are Coming!

After the tractors had passed, we continued to watch the parade of motorcycles, mini cars, bands and more.  At around 10:45, the man sitting next to us struck up a conversation and I got the feeling that he was trying to get out of me how long the parade usually lasts (he said he and his wife had driving up from the Chicago area).  I told him that it was our first time to the parade too, so I had no idea.  Then he told me that his wife had read that there were 146 separate units in the parade (all fire trucks counted as one, all tractors as one, etc)!!!  I looked at the parade numbers going by and after watching for over an hour we were on number 28!  Eric and I continued to watch with the boys until about 11:30 and then decided it was time to head home for lunch and naps.  At that point (after 2 hours of the parade) they were on number 46...I have NO idea how long the parade ended up lasting, but it was MUCH too long for little boys to sit.  Oh well, we had a good time and the weather was gorgeous so just being outside with my loves was pretty wonderful in itself!

Mini Cars

A horsey (or lately Asher typically calls any horse a donkey) riding a jet ski.

After the parade, we were driving home when we looked into the sky and saw some sky divers parachuting down to the park ahead.  We pulled over and Asher and I got out to see them land and take a quick walk over to the lake to check it out and get some rocks to take home.

Skydivers.

After we got home, we had some fun outdoors, lunch, naps and Eric and I got to finish off our Fourth of July movie: Independence Day!

Movie time in the basement.

When Asher woke up, he and I headed outside to wash and decorate his truck and wagon so that we could have a mini parade of our own around the block.

Asher and Eric killed some time waiting for Avery to wake up by lighting some fireworks.

When Avery woke up, he joined in the fun too!

Asher & Avery ready for our parade.

When our parade was done and we had returned home (& recovered from the major meltdown that ensued when Asher spotted a balloon of ours that had fallen off the wagon and was bouncing through traffic of our nearby busy street), Eric made us some awesome ribs on the grill which we all thoroughly enjoyed and then we packed up and headed down to the lake for the Kenosha Fireworks.

Asher loved the ribs.

Even Avery got to try them out and seemed to approve.

Waiting for the fireworks.

Enjoying some red-white&blue pops while we waited.

Teasing Avery with a popsicle.  Mommy (me) says no sugar till age 1!

We all had a great time watching the fireworks over the lake and considering it was way past bedtime, both the boys did great...until the fireworks were done.  Once the show was over though, Avery realized how tired and hungry he was and the monster within came out.  At the same time, Asher (who desperately needed a change) was crying because he wanted Eric to carry him saying his feet hurt, but since his diaper was leaking (on Eric's shirt), Eric didn't want to give in to his request.  When we got back to the van, both boys were completely melting down.  I changed Asher in the back of the van but he was mad that he didn't have pants on (because they were gross and I didn't have others) and his feet still hurt.  At that point I realized that his new (fake) crocs had given him blisters. Avery continued to scream his little head off and wanted nothing more than to get out of his seat and go to bed.  Unfortunately that didn't happen for almost an hour.  Even though we live three miles from the lake, it took about 45-50 minutes to get home in the stand-still post-fireworks traffic.  Good times.  So, all in all it was a great day full of holiday fun with my boys...but I could have done without the last hour...Oh well, in the end we are still blessed to be a happy, healthy little family and to live in the greatest country on the planet!  :)