Let's have a parade!

We had a very exciting 4th of July this year (which was good because mommy was a little sad she would not be in Michigan - that's only happened one other time in the 8 years she has lived here). Our celebration started the night before as Grandma Page and Erika bought us some fun hats for the parade. Noah immediately put his on and wore it all evening. We almost had trouble getting it away from him for sleeping but when we promised he could put it right back on in the morning and we would go to the parade, he finally gave in. Our 4th started off right as we attended the Lenexa parade. And we even got to have our first lollipop. Mmmm. Grandpa & Grandma's corvette club was in the parade so we got to watch for someone we knew. Yummy KC BBQ followed for lunch and then everyone napped. One of Noah's play group friends invited all of us over for a picnic in the evening. They had a huge crowd and lots of yummy food. They even rented a moonwalk for the kiddos. (Noah still asks regularly if we can go to Grace's house and do jumping. I think he liked it.) It rained in the afternoon and cooled things off nicely so it was very pleasant outside. Their neighborhood has a lake and beach area so we moved over there and watched their fireworks. Grace decided to help Noah have a snack so she had Christopher open a bag of goldfish for him then proceeded to put them in his mouth. She then got him a juice drink. I guess she thought she was being a little messy so she got out a wipe and cleaned his face and hands. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it all but started laughing because the rest of us were. His chair came complete with umbrella which he needed out even though it was dark. Grace was taken by the umbrella and scooted her chair all around so she could sit under it too. They were already to "watch the fireworks," they would say.
But as soon as they started, both Noah and Grace shot out of their seats and headed for parts unknown screaming, "All done! Bye-bye, fireworks! Go home!" Well, Grace really did go home but daddy took Noah up to the road behind us and walked around. Daddy tried to point out that they sounded just like Animal playing the drums so now when we talk about fireworks, that is what Noah says. In between, "Oooh, pretty, daddy!'s" he was still pretty insistent on going home. Lucky for him, the show eventually ended and we got to do just that. And the whole way home we listened to, "Fireworks all done? Loud! Like Animal playing drums," over and over and over and over. Thank goodness we didn't get caught in any traffic because he may have lost his voice.