4th of July Finale...

This past weekend was so long and packed with activity it has taken me until now to recover!  Sunday morning we started the day with church.  One of my favorite parts was during worship...we were singing a song and I looked down to see Jilly right by my side with both hands straight up in the air worshiping Jesus with all of her heart.  Love it.

When church ended we headed into town to find our spot for the big parade.  It's become a tradition that we get there early and eat our lunch while we wait for the parade to start.

There is always plenty of people watching to keep us entertained.  My favorite thing we saw this year.....a couple pulled up in their truck and began to unload what we thought were their chairs.  Turns out it was their entire outdoor table and chairs set....complete with umbrella.  They set it up right on the sidewalk to enjoy the parade in their own shade.  Cracked me up!

This next picture is Calvin with his lunch bag on his head.  I told him I was looking forward to showing it to his girlfriend some day.

Everyone enjoyed the parade.  Well....almost everyone.  Nathan really doesn't enjoy parades.  He REALLY doesn't like the noise.  This year I brought ear plugs which helped a little, but he still gets very nervous and cries when the fire trucks or anything else really loud comes by.  The poor guy.  It was an improvement though...last year he was in the car for the whole parade.  This year we were able to throw him a tootsie roll every once in awhile and keep him distracted.  When we were talking about going to the parade the day before Nathan said, "I don't want to go...I just want to stay home and mow."  He's not kidding.  God bless him.

When the parade ended we headed home for about an hour, and then we were right back out again to see the movie Cars 2.  The boys (and me too) had been dying to see it.  It was okay, but not nearly as cute as the first one.  It was, however, Jilly's first time at a movie.  She enjoyed a little popcorn and lemonade, and then went to sleep on my lap for the whole movie.  So I got to watch a movie and snuggle a baby.  My favorite.

Monday we went to the resort to swim for awhile in the afternoon.  That night the boys and I headed to the lake front in Bemidji.  It's been a tradition for a couple of years that Calvin and I go to the carnival and then to fireworks.  This year Nathan decided he wanted to go with us.  I wasn't sure how this would go since he REALLY dislikes loud noises.  I explained everything we would do and he still wanted to go, so we took him along!  We had a great time at the carnival.  Calvin LOVES to play games....so we did that and got a few cheesy prizes.  Then they went on a couple rides.  All Nathan wanted to do was ride the race cars.  He got his wish!

Then they went on the roller coaster...



I love the look on this little girl's face!


And finally the whales.

Good times.

After snagging some food (corn dog for me, hot dog for Nathan, pizza for Calvin and mini doghnuts for all) we headed to our blanket to wait for the fireworks.  After we had been sitting there for just a couple minutes someone close by lit some firecrakers.  Nathan did not like this AT ALL.  He was holding his hands over his ears, crying, begging me to take him home.  Calvin and I did everything we could think of to distract him.  At one point I was talking to my mom on the phone and he said with his lip sticking out, "Tell Nana to come pick me up...tell her I'm at the lake and I need her to pick me up."  It was very sad.  Well....it turned out there was a big thunder storm coming anyway.  We probably weren't going to make it to the fireworks.  A blessing for Nathan...let me tell you.  We decided to gather our things and go watch from the car for awhile.  After sitting in the car for a half hour with two boys I decided we weren't waiting for the fireworks!  We got home as it started pouring and everyone went to bed.  We'll try for those fireworks again next year!  Maybe inside the car to avoid the noise!