4TH of July!!!

We love the 4th of July. Seems weird considering I am from Canada and never celebrated it until I met Angel and even then for the first few years we were together we didn't really celebrate it. Once I moved here we started doing our own little traditions and then once we had Olivia and then Malaya we have made those traditions even more important and expanded on them.

This year was our second 4th with Malaya and our second one back here in Washington. We took the kids to the parade in Blaine which I did by myself last year as Angel had to work, but this year Angel was off for the whole day so we went to Blaine for the parade. Now as most of you know I am a bit nuts :) I like to decorate for everything so we decorated our deck with lights and some 4th themed stars and I bought head bands, beads and outfits for all of us to wear. So we went to the parade all decked out in our gear and had alot of fun with the kids watching the parade and then this year for the first time we went to the street fair type thing they have down town.


We got some kettle corn, which both the kids love, and went to try and walk through all the people......not the easiest thing to do but we finally found a clearing and saw a booth where Olivia got to play a game to win a blow up princess hammer and Malaya won a blow up bat!! They had a lot of fun but we were getting hungry and wanted a cool sit down place to eat so as we headed to the car to go find a place we saw pony rides. Olivia really wanted to ride the pony so Angel waited with her in line and on the pony she got and she loved it!! She had so much fun and I was so glad we found that area and she got to ride a pony.

So we headed toward the car and we found a mexican place right on the maine street where we could sit down inside and eat so we did and the food was great!! So after eating we went to the car and headed back to Bellingham to go to our house and pick up a picnic I had prepared the night before. Last Year we went Boulevard Park by the water to picninc and stay for the fireworks and we really liked it so we decided to do that again. So we went home got our stuff and then got some fresh things from the store and headed to the park.

Once there we found a spot and set up camp. We played ball, frisbee and golf, we read stories and blew bubbles we had snacks and drinks and just really had some family fun and then our dear friends Heather and Mark came to join us. We continued to play and took the kids to the playground area and to walk by the water. Then we went to eat our picninc and start getting cleaned up a bit and then changed to get ready for the fireworks.

We got the kids dressed in Jammies and warm things and then got out their glow sticks we bought them and they just played together and had fun while it got dark. Right around 10:15 the fireworks began and Olivia kept saying "look Mommy fireworks, just for me?" and we said, "yes Livvy look at all those fireworks just for you and your brother" they were convinced they were just for them and we just let everyone come and watch them with us....too cute!!

SO Malaya sat on my lap for the fireworks and he nuzzled his head in and just as they were doing the grand finale I looked down at him and noticed he was sound asleep.....what a sweetie just snuggled up with Mom fast asleep. So once the fireworks were done I just stayed put with the kids while Angel and Mark gathered stuff up and loaded the cars and then Olivia walked with Heather and I carried Malaya and we got in the car and came home. Olivia was sound asleep by the time we got home and we just carried them up and snuggled them in their beds. People were still setting off fireworks but the kids slept soundly and Angel and I just relaxed and then headed to bed.

It was a great day and I love that we have these family traditions that I hope we do every year and then the kids will do those types of things with their families when they grow up. Best part of my childhood was all the traditions and fun things we did around holidays and I hope I am passing that along to my kids so they have a lot of great family memories!!

Here our some pictures of our day.....enjoy!!