4th of July Weekend

We had such a fun 4th of July weekend!  Paul had Friday off, which meant we had three whole days of awesome family time.  I LOVED it! 

On Friday morning we had a family date to the splash pad in Rosemount.

We came home for naps, then Paul grilled us steak!  (He grilled all three days - steak Friday, pizzas Saturday, and ribs Sunday- Mmmm!  Thanks, honey!!!)

Then after dinner we headed over to Johnny Cake Park for some 4th of July special activities!

Large Vehicles - including the kind of bus daddy takes to work

Driving the bus

Firetruck!

Larkyn's first time driving the fire truck!

All Smiles :)

Pony Rides for the older two...

and petting zoo for Larky-Loo.  She giggled so much! 

Dance Party!

On Saturday, July 4th, the kids participated in the Half Pint Half Mile Race as part of Apple Valley's Freedom Days.  Summer has been asking to do a race for months and was so excited.  I don't think Colton really understood what he was getting himself into, but he wanted to do it because Summer was doing it!

Summer ran the whole way and looked like she could have kept going!

She does everything with a smile!

Colton ran the first half strong, but was looking pretty tired by the last leg, so Larkyn and I ran with him :)

He was so excited to see the finish line! I was so proud of his perseverance - he was really tired but kept running!

Summer finished the race, then waited to cheer on Colton.  She jumped back in the race and held his hand as they crossed the finish line together.  Too cute!  Love them.

With their ribbons

 We had a low key rest of the morning, and let Larkyn take a long morning nap.  Then we packed up food for lunch and rollerbladed/pushed the strollers to our parade. 

 

Larkyn watched the noisy parts of the parade, but was otherwise more interested in the things in front of her to play with or eat :)

The older two watched the entire parade with wide eyes!  They hardly blinked except when I offered them freeze pops to keep them hydrated!

My two fav boys :)

 Larkyn and I rollerbladed back a bit early as she was ready for a nap, but the older two and daddy stayed til the end of the parade.  After dinner, Daddy put on a fireworks show!  Our neighbor Mr. Ken joined us too! 

Stud Pyro :)

Cuties

I loved watching their faces during the fireworks!  I watched the kids more than I did the fireworks!!

Sparklers

Watching everything!

 We got the younger two kiddos to bed, and then Summer and Daddy had a late night date to the carnival and fireworks show!

Soooooo excited!

Sno Cone!

Waiting for fireworks

Sillies

Perfect.