4th of July Parade

Our neighborhood had a 4th of July parade for kids. The idea was to decorate a bike, stroller, wagon, or pet in a 4th of July theme and then parade around the neighborhood.



We had sweet potato pancakes for breakfast. Yummy! Then, Sam helped us decorate his tricycle. He wasn't interested in riding it, so we pushed it to the clubhouse.



I was surprised at how many people in our neighborhood decorated their yards for 4th of July. I can't wait to see it at Halloween and Christmas.



It's hard to get a two year old ready to do anything on a schedule, so we were late to the parade. It turns out that most of the kids were little and couldn't really parade very long.



They gave out prizes. This dog won for best decorated pet.



Best wagon.



Judges.



Best bike.



After the party was over, Sam sat back for a drink of milk, and "rode" his bike back home.



He liked waiving the flag around.



We grilled sausages and had corn-on-the-cob, cantaloupe, and baked beans for lunch. Sam had really wanted to try corn-on-the-cob the last time that we had it but we didn't have any of those little corn holders -- Sam really doesn't like to get food on his hands, and I think the corn was a little hot, so he got frustrated. This time, I made sure to get the little corn holders, and he LOVED it. He ate the whole thing and asked for more.



Later that day we had a little rain blow through, so we set up the bounce house in the gameroom. Sam had a blast. It's been in there ever since and he wants to bounce all the time.



We took a walk in the evening and met several neighbors leaving to go see fireworks. Some of them told us that we should be able to see them from our neighborhood. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we could see the Craig Ranch fireworks display from the end of our street. Several of our neighbors were gathered in the street and were playing patriotic music on the radio. Sam loved all the excitement. He cried when it was over and asked for more. He was just totally worn out with so much excitement from morning to after dark.



We got a note from one of our neighbors warning that they'd found black widow spiders in their garage by the garage door. We checked, and sure enough, we had them too. Chris sprayed them and keeps checking for more.

Funny Things Sam said ...

• We were out back washing Chris's truck with Sam when our new neighbors came over to meet us. We ended up staying outside longer than I thought we would so I ran in to get some sunscreen for Sam. He saw me coming with it, took off running, and said "No! I don't like that! I don't like that!"
• I had an early conference call one morning, so I decided to keep Sam at home and take him to day care after the call. I was in the office, and it had been quiet for a little while in the living room where Sam was. Then I heard a very proud Sam say, "I did it!" I wondered what he was so proud of so I put the phone on mute and went in the other room. There was Sam covered head to toe in magic markers. I should have taken a picture, but my first reaction was to clean it off. He only colored on his skin, not his clothes, though he has gotten them on his clothes before ... they are very washable.
  
• We had not read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? for a while ... probably since he started talking and getting into Thomas the Train. So, I was surprised when Sam knew all the colors and animals when I was reading it to him one day. I wanted Chris to hear Sam say all the words, so we read it as a bed time story that night. Chris was turning the pages and asking Sam, "What's that?" Sam answered him for a few pages, then turned around, pointed to Chris, and said "Talk!" Sam wanted to be read to. He didn't want to read to us!