Food, Family, Fun, and Fireworks

We had a very fun, busy 4th of July weekend.

The fun started out on Saturday morning at the Webster Groves 4th of July parade. We had a big group! We joined Mama, Great Grandma, Aunt Amy, Uncle Darnel, Taylor, Delaney, Trey, Uncle Steve, Uncle Kara, and Claire at our usual parade spot.

Mama brought Dunkin Donuts and Dane had a chocolate long john!

Uncle Darnel and Dane hung out before the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start

Our boys in their matching red, white, and blue shorts.

Keeping shaded by the umbrella

My sweet boy

Mama and Great Grandma

Daddy and Dane hanging out in the shade a bit

My two cute boys

The Clydesdales

We have heard that this was their last public appearance...well without paying big bucks!

Claire and Dane talking

Trey loves his baby Dane.

In the shade!

After the parade we went back to Mama and Papa's to pack up to go downtown. For Christmas we got my parents a room at the Millennium Hotel to celebrate the 4th and their 40th wedding anniversary. They invited us all down to spend the evening and watch fireworks from the room. We all brought snacks and enjoyed hanging out.

Some of us went to the Arch grounds for Fair St. Louis. Taylor made Dane a 4th of July hat at the Magic House booth.

Trey spent a lot of time on his hat.

Dane was checking out the hotel room.

Dane LOVES his Papa.

If Papa is holding him he will NEVER leave him

to come to me, daddy, or mama!

Daddy, Papa, and Dane watched the Cardinals game.

Mama and her little ones!

Delaney is so good with Dane.

Dane loved the view.

He would stand at the window and yell.

Playing "Where's Dane" with the curtains

Cousins!

Dane was a trooper Saturday night. He stayed up until we left the hotel at 10:00. We were amazed by how fast we got out of the hotel, to the parking garage, and on the highway. Took us less than 15 minutes!

Sunday we were in Lake Forest for the 4th of July. I was not very good about taking pictures of some parts of our day. Dane went up to the firehouse with Daddy in the morning while I got our brownies ready for the neighborhood BBQ. At noon we all headed up to the community center in Lake Forest for lunch. We hung out with our friends Chloe, who is 2 yrs old, Colton, who is 1 and a half, Tyler, who is 3, and Aiden, who is 1. We had a VERY active lunch table. It was fun!

After lunch we headed down to the pool for a swim with friends. Dane played ball with Aiden a bit and loves to watch the kids swim. From the pool we went over to Troy and Vicki's house to decorate our wagons for the 4th of July Kids Parade. The big firetruck led the parade.

Dane was so excited about being in his first parade!

About half way through he woke up!

He was excited to walk with Grace for a bit!

Dane was going to ride with Colton until he fell asleep.

Amanda and I decorated the wagon a bit, but Colton did not want any decorations so he tore them all off and just held his flags. You can see Amanda, in the green shirt, holding all of the crepe paper that Colton tore off!Chloe and Tyler were excited to ride in the parade.

They kept their wagon decorated, stayed awake, and waved their flags!

Aiden riding on Troy's shoulders...he did not want to hold the flag!

After the kids parade we hung out and let the kids play, then headed over to some friend's house across the lake for a BBQ before fireworks.

We took the boat out on the lake for fireworks.

Waiting for fireworks

Tasha and Chloe joined us on our boat

Dane was so happy I thought he would make it for the entire firework display.

The Deters pulled up next to us.

The firework display was great!

I was wrong though, Dane didn't make it til the end.