Happy 4th of July!! July 4, 2015

Happy 4th of July!  My family has been doing the same thing for Independence Day for almost 20 years, with only slight moderations.   This year was no exception.

The day always starts at the McKinley Fire Department Bike Parade and Races.   In year's past,  we always walked the whole route, but Lily wanted to get to the face painting early, so we walked straight to the Firehouse--Here are some photos:

                                                She went for a patriotic theme...gorgeous!!

       Anna and her friend, Maddie--these two were inseparable in elementary school.

  My favorite part is watching the kids duck from the candy and peanuts being thrown down at them--they get so happy to pull some peanuts out of the grass, and trying to catch it as it comes down.

Lily had this unique method of catching candy/peanuts--she stands there with her bag open, trying to catch candy, not picking it up from the ground.  She told me the idea of eating anything that had been on the floor was gross to her.   That is her with the brown bag in the center of the photo. 

 Eventually, someone pointed out that there was a big bag of peanuts open--so she ran over, sat down, and just started filling her bag.  She didn't want anything touching the ground.   This made her happy.

She sat there for 10 minutes...Success!!  

After we got home, we decided to go over to my friend's Meg's swim club, for a little barbecue she was sponsoring.   My kids were having fun, especially when they realized there was a diving board.  That kept them busy.  

We decided to walk down to McKinley Tavern for a late dinner, and our friends were heading down, so we had dinner with them.   We left at 9, and then we ran over to Abington to see the fireworks.  We headed up to the old Strawbridge's building.   They must have started the fireworks a little early, but we managed to catch the last 15 minutes of the show, so everyone was happy.  It was a great 4th of July!  Happy Independence Day!