fourth of july parade

the kids were super excited to go to the local fourth of july parade. they were even more excited when i told them that we were going to meet up with our neighbors to walk over.  they were very excited about holding hands (their idea). it was going to be a very hot day and we were hoping some of the morning coolness would last through the parade. 

daddy just happen to sleep in a red shirt and blue shorts so we had to get a picture of everyone all 'matchy'.

it was already warm when we headed out and thankfully i remembered to grab everyone a water.  there was a light breeze that made the walk over not too sweaty, but then we got to the parade route...

mason, luke, madelyn and sophia walking on the trail

the trail from the neighborhood ends at the start of the parade route so we knew that we were going to be a prime candy zone.  luckily, our neighbor-friend had an extra bag because that was something i had forgotten.

all of the kids sitting, sweating and waiting for the parade to start (manning is in the back of the green and brown stroller)

the kids got a lot of candy - think trick-or-treating quantities.  they had a really great time waving at all the people in the parade and chasing down the tossed candy.

i am glad that we could just walk over and really glad to walk home where i could take a shower to wash off the heat!  matt was a champ and took the older kids to the pool while i stayed back with manning (we didn't want him to be out in the heat of the day - the shade of the stroller with the breeze kept him much, much cooler than the rest of us during the parade). 

a much cooler (and full-bellied) manning

love.