Happy 4th of July!

Last Sunday we headed over to Chad's parents' house to feed Buffy and water the plants while they're out of town.  Then we continued on up to Blowing Rock to eat lunch and play for a bit. Well, Chad and I ate lunch, but the kids were too excited by the creek and all the potential fun!  Here they are not sitting at the picnic table eating with us.  =) 

So, we finished up our lunch and got the kids in the water!  Chad tried to teach Drew how to skip rocks.

But just plain old throwing rocks was a big hit with both kids!

Here they are trying to catch a fish!  LOL

More throwing rocks!  He could have done this all day!  (we stayed for about two hours and he was not ready to quit!)

Emma loved the water! 

The water felt great!  It was a hot day, but the water was chilly.

We attempted to wade down futher, but it was hard for Emma to keep her balance.

I love this picture!  I'm so thankful for the automatic timer feature on the camera b/c this picture turned out really well.  Although, it definitely took several attempts...

Buddies! 

I rarely buy chips, but when I do, the kids are OBSESSED!  Emma didn't want to get back in until I pried the chips out of her hands!

We wanted to go to Grandfather Mountain to walk on the Mile High Swinging Bridge, but we didn't realize there was a fee to get in.  We will definitely plan a trip there for an entire day sometime soon, but we weren't going to do it when we already had two tired kids.  Here's a picture from the road out my window as we were heading out.

Tuesday, July 3rd, we went to the Lowe's Y in Mooresville.  They had a big 4th of July Celebration all afternoon/evening.  We ended up going to Rita's Italian Ice and getting some ice cream and then heading to the Y to walk around.  We were a little late for the festivities (bouncy houses and stuff), but we walked around, listened to the symphony and watched the huge crowds and then headed to our usual fireworks-watching spot down the road.  Emma snuggled up to me when they started, crying "Emma bye-bye" over and over and over...and after about 5 minutes it got quieter and quieter...and then she finally said, "mommy, look! pretty!"  and then "Emma okay fireworks."  That meant, "okay, I'm alright with these fireworks now!"  LOL   I think this picture was taken when she was still saying "Emma bye-bye."

Drew loved the fireworks!  They look pretty comfy!



Fireworks!

Then on July 4th, we went to the Birkdale Celebration.  They have a parade for kids on their decorated bikes, scooters, etc and for pets dressed in patriotic attire.  Here's the kids eating their snacks on their bikes after we finished decorating them. 

Patriotic pig tails!  =)

What a cheeseball!  I let him pick out a new bike helmet for the event - he chose a shark! 

They had a huge flag on a firetruck ladder!  I think the fire trucks had a water fight after the parade, but it was close to a 100 degrees, and our kids had had enough - we missed it.

They're waiting in the HOT sun for the parade to start.

And here we are walking in the parade!

Emma didn't last much longer than this...a firetruck in the parade set off his siren (b/c most kids like that!), and she jumped off her bike and wanted to be held!  So, we let Chad and Drew finish the parade and we just watched everyone else. 



Drew did great on his bike in the parade!

After the parade, we went home to cool off and let Emma nap.  Then we headed over to our neighbor's house to hang out.   The kids all played, there was ping pong going on, lots of good food - we had a great time!