4th of July

We had talked about the 4th of July for probably a whole month before it came. Ben was very excited about the parade, fireworks, etc. Then it got to be the day before the school parade. Ben was not so sure he was eager to hear the drum line that was coming from a local high school to lead his parade. He persevered though and was able to crack a smile as he marched proudly. By the end of the parade he even danced a little and started to loosen up. Elizabeth performed as predicted. She wasn’t upset about the parade, but looked stunned and confused. Her hair was done up in a blue ribbon though and she looked so cute! Ben had wild hair too with colored hair spray and sparkles. After the parade, we went to buy fireworks. Ben agreed to some fountains and smoke balls. He actually calls them snoke balls! After church on the 4th we had a birthday party for one of Ben’s friends to attend. Ben was glad to see his friend, but extra glad to see her dogs. He loved petting them and playing chase. The kids are definitely not exposed to animals very often. Ha ha! After the fun party we headed to Olive for a cookout with Mom’s family. The kids got to see even more animals and both seemed to enjoy them from the appropriate distance. Elizabeth loved the horses until they walked closer. :) Both kids enjoyed the fireworks that we had purchased and we even got to see some larger fireworks during our car ride home after the fun at Aunt Terry and Uncle John’s. When we arrived home, it was a different story. E was pretty easy to go to sleep, but there were lots of fireworks being shot in our neighborhood. Ben got out his ear plugs and sat in the living room to watch TV. He even requested to go take cover in the bathtub, but he was reassured that it was just as quiet and safe to enjoy the TV. He finally settled down as the fireworks slowed around 10 or so and made it clear that he only enjoyed the quiet ones and he would not like to hear any fireworks on the next 4th of July. He did request an extra bag of snoke balls for next year though.