4th of July

Well the 4th came a lot quicker than we expected!  It's one of our favorite holidays living here in HB.  I don't recall ever being this patriotic until I lived in HB where it's so much fun and I'm reminded so much what it's really all about.  We have traditionally biked every year downtown to watch the parade and just cruise around to see all the fun and people watch.  We were able to manage pretty well when it was just Makayla and still bike but now with two it's much more difficult.  We don't bike too much but we should so it didn't validate us buying an additional thing for the bike just for the 4th.  So we drove down to my cousins condo and parked there since they are just off of Main St.  We walked with the stroller and it was fine getting there but we'll tell you more about the walk back as the story begins on this day......

Here I am with my little 4th of July cheerleader getting ready to do the kids 1/2 mile run.  Makayla was so excited about this run it was so cute!  She's been practicing her running moves.  I was gonna do the 5K but never got around to signing up and have been sick so glad I didn't and just enjoyed my time with the family this morning.

Here are the "All American Girl" cheerleaders Mia, Rachael & Makayla and Gunter the lucky boy that gets to run with these 3 girls!  They are all ready to go!

Here she is just zippin' away!  I can't believe she ran almost the whole race!  Her face was all red and flushed but she was so excited and trying to keep up with Rachael & Mia but they're older and taller so her little shorty legs just couldn't keep up.  

Here are all the kiddos and their medal!  They had so much fun and are already saying how they're ready to do it again next year!  The girls got so many comments while running about their cute little matching outfits.

The 4th family picture.  Mylee was having her bottle when we started so Daddy fed her and waited for us at the finish line.

After the race Gunter's parents, Grace & Han's parents live right down on Main St. where the parade goes right by so they invited us over.  They had tents and food all out for everyone.  They really made us feel at home.  And boy was it a party!  Here are the kids in the garage playing.

My M&M girls playing with each other in the garage before the parade starts.

Here's a little glimpse of the parade as it started.  We usually don't watch the parade for too long and the kids never last but it's a fun little tradition.  As we were hanging out under the tent we saw lots of familiar faces from church.  It was so bizarre but in a good way.  So we had so much fun talking and getting to know everyone even more.  Funny how everyone remembers us because of Mylee.  She's had a hard time in their daycare and is making it memorable on everyone!

Told you we didn't last long at watching the parade.  Maybe an hour and then we were off to swimming.  Makayla got super tired and poor Ryan had to carry her on his shoulder almost the whole way back the car.  It was far when you're carrying a 30 lbs. weight and dealing with the crowd and sun. All worth it though!  What we do for our kids!  Tara invited us over to Pam's house to hang out at their pool.  Here's little Mylee really enjoying it with her Daddy!

Mylee driving already!  Boy they start young at everything now!   She's lovin' it all!

There's Makayla with her goggles hanging out in the little yellow donut since she's on her own while Ry is taking care of Mylee.  She's a good girl and is sharing Daddy's time.  She's really picking up the swimming thing so each time she's in the pool, she's getting braver and braver especially watching her older girlfriends.

There's Mak with some of her new friends that she met from today.  We had some lunch and hung out at the pool for just a few hours and then everyone was beat and needed a nap before the festivities that night.

Well, we got home and the girls both got a bath and then napped.  But unfortunately Makayla had too much sun and just wasn't herself.  I felt really bad but I'm not sure what I really would've done differently since she was having a blast all day.  Or it could've just been a stroke of bad luck where she just came down with something also.  Well so much for over analyzing everything, but all we need to do is to get her better!  We had a little family BBQ.  I marinated my own Korean BBQ Kalbi beef and it was yummy for the family.  Super easy and good!  Then Rachael came over with her Grammy to  cheer Mak up and do some sparklers and party poppers together.  Here they are decorating the flag cake I made for the special occasion.  

The girls did a fantastic job!  Check out their work!  Amazing what kids can do if you just have the patience to guide and show them the way!  Picture perfect this cool whip yellow cake with fresh strawberry filling.  So light and yummy!

We roasted some marshmallows and made some smore's.  Yummy! Just like down at the beach  when we use to have bon fires.  Now it's just in our little back yard.

Here's a video that you'll have to see.  Rachael and Makayla had so much fun with their sparklers and were so brave and good with them.  Such great little girls!  Happy 4th everyone! That' concludes our very busy day celebrating our independence!