We started out the day by heading down to the Friendswood Fourth of July parade. July 4th means PARADE in capital letters to any Arlingtonian (like myself), and so we decided to check it out with our besties, the Greenfields.
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| Waiting for the parade to begin. |
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| Happy 4th! Jacob's red mouth is due to a patriotic swig of Fruit Punch. |
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The Greenbergs (as we are sometimes called).
After the parade, we all stopped for breakfast at IHOP, of course. We always stick the kids at one end of the table, and then the four of us laugh and talk at the other end. This may possibly make things less pleasant for those seated around us (particularly when David and Jacob run a victory lap around the table), but it's great for the adults! Steven and Jed both ordered Chicken and Waffles (what??!!) and BOTH poured SYRUP into their HOLLANDAISE SAUCE! Needless to say I was horrified. But my pancakes were delicious and my friends were hilarious and so a good time was had by all.
After breakfast, the Grundbergs headed to the annual League City Citizen Appreciation Day in Old League Park. It's a perfect small town celebration complete with free treats, the standard classic rock cover band, bounce houses, pony rides, the absolute works. |
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| Enjoying free snow cones. |
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| Gracie's first experience with cotton candy. Needless to say, she was a fan. |
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| The pony rides are always a great favorite with the kids. |
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| Jacob was seriously making this face the entire day. He was a happy, happy camper. |
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| Little Grace had a very hard time waiting for her turn for the pony rides. Each time she realized it wasn't her turn yet, she'd break down in hysterical tears. Waiting is so hard! |
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| She absolutely loved those ponies! She kept talking about it all day. |
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| Saying goodbye to our pony after the ride. |
After a quick shower and nap, we finished off the day by heading over to Nassau Bay park for festivities and fireworks. Unfortunately, the weather was looking very sketchy on the way down. We were definitely worried. While we were there, we ran into some other families from church (the Blakes, the Westwoods and the Busselbergs), as well as meeting up with our friends the Goits and the Greenfields (some of whom were NOT happy with the weather).
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| Jakie chomping on a chicken leg while we waiting for the fireworks to begin. |
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| He insisted on taking a grumpy picture. |
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| Gracie ate more cookies that night than is probably healthy for any human being. |
Unfortunately for us, it began to rain quite steadily within an hour. We were completely soaked. But nevertheless, we stuck it out until the fireworks.!
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| My little girl looking like a drowned kitten. |
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| The kiddos were sopping wet, but happy as clams. And the fireworks ended up being even more beautiful in the rain. |
My friend Sarah was less than excited about the rain. But Jed kept cheering us on with constant encouragement...some of which were:
--Just wait 5 minutes...
--It rains harder just before it stops.
--Look, it's clearing up over there.
--We're right on the edge of the storm.
--Did you see that bald eagle fly in?
So at least he kept us laughing. And to sum up the evening, I'll quote Jed:
"It was all worth it in the end; it was literally epic!!!!!!"
