The Start of a Big Weekend...

I love the 4th of July weekend.  I just do.  Always have.

Here in Bemidji it always includes a few days of fun!  Today was the kids race...a .5K, and the kiddie parade.  Calvin ran the race and did great!  Here he is before it started...

And just for fun, here he is the first time he ever ran it.  He was three!

How cute is that?  He has always loved running this race.  Here are a couple of shots of him at the starting line and an action shot!

When the race ended it was time for the kiddie parade. (When we told Nathan about it he asked how many kitties were going to be in the parade...get it?)  In past years we have always just watched, but this year the kids wanted to be in it!  We decided to go for it and they had a ball!

 We originally were just going to have the boys ride, and let Jilly watch with Daddy.  It wasn't a surprise when that didn't last.  Before it started she decided she wanted to ride too!



All the parade participants lining up!



 Nathan was just hilarious during the parade.  He had his hand straight up in the air waving at people the entire time.  He actually came close to running over people's toes a few times because he went so close to the edge of the street.  I was a nervous wreck as he was always looking to the crowd and NOT in front of him.  I yelled, "Nathan Stop!" or "Nathan, Look Out!"  more times then I can count.  He loved it though.  When we got done I was commenting to Marc that I think he waved to everyone in town.  Nathan said in a very excited voice, "That's because I LOVE people and kids!"  So so true.

Here are two more pictures from when we were waiting for things to start today.

We had such a great day as a family.  Lots of laughs and just good fun.  What a blessing.  Can't wait for tomorrow when we'll go to church and then watch the BIG parade!  Happy 4th!