Happy 4th of July

Here is our report of our "Happy 4th of July" festivities! Katharine and I watching fireworks tonight ~

This morning, we rode our bikes over to the church. K putting on her helmet "I do it! I do it!" (K had two different 4th of July outfits today. 

The community breakfast consisted of pancakes, eggs, and sausage, with chocolate milk. Joseph and Eliza texted us from Ohio with their patriotic breakfast, which looked a little healthier than ours: French toast with berries and cream! 

Looks like the newlyweds are doing just great. After our kids finished off their plates, they scattered. The girls were doing face and body painting on their friends and siblings.

I did my best keeping track of the boys. Corey was down at the Stake Center making sure the carnival was all set up at the end of the parade route. Peter and I biked down to the carnival. 

This is my first time ever going. Mel and Lily had moved down there to continue their painting side gig. Peter found the tatoos. 

There was a loooong line for face painting, so I picked up a brush and tried to help. I sat behind Mel, and we both had one leg in the sun. My leg got a little burnt. Lily on the other side of the table there with an American cap on. 

I got pretty good at doing American flags, stars, and fireworks. When people wanted something other than that, I did my best. I did this one mermaid that looked so bad. I think that was my worst one, but in my defense the little girl kept moving. I didn't show her the finished product in a mirror, I just said I was done and shook my head in shame as I looked at her caregiver as I mouthed "sorry!" Lily's worst one was when she did some full on grown college guys or seniors, three of them - one by one she held their chin in her hand to keep it still and was very very close to their faces. She said it was really weird. Kids were fun to do. I think they liked having an adult pay so much close attention to them. I didn't see much of the rest of the carnival cause I was there at the face painting station the whole time, but Corey said it was great, so many people helped out. He was very grateful and it was a party and he's glad it's over. Natalie getting dunked on the dunk tank.

I was impressed with the chalk art competition which I saw as we left. Wow!

Then it was home and time for a nap for everyone.

We also watched Titanic (skipping the inappropriate scene). Everyone getting worked up as we got closer to the sinking, cause we know what's coming...

Sophi is fun to watch movies with. It's also fun to watch her watch movies.

Aaand it's over. Well, what do you think? Daniel needed a hug, he was sad for the people that died, especially the little children. Sophi was sad over the love story - that Jack died, that they didn't get to get married and have a family together. We were kinda laughing at Sophi, poor girl.

Well, let's do something to cheer her up: off to the fireworks! We actually didn't decide until the last moment to actually go. We ate dinner first, then we loaded up and we were driving there as the sun was setting. I went to the Dollar Tree a few days ago and loaded up on glowsticks for tonight, mostly to help me not lose track of the kids in the crowd. It worked great.

The kids had fun pretending they had magical powers. I think Peter was like an avatar light bender - 

As we walked into the park, it was crowded, but we found a spot to sit. Didn't bring blankets or chairs, which was part of our strategy of being last minute attendees - you don't need food or comfort if it's just a 30 min gig. The fireworks started soon enough, and it was great show!

I took a few screen shots from the selfie video I took of K and I. It really was a great show. Holladay does an amazing job. When it was over, we hurried out with big kids holding little kids' hands and we walked to 45th south. We knew there wouldn't be a close place to park when we came, but we didn't want to be stuck in the jammed parking lots anyway, with everyone trying to leave at the same time. So our plan was for Corey to be at the main road ready for us in the car. It worked out great and we got home pretty quickly! It was a fun day!