celebrating the fourth

Bug spray.

Water.

Snacks.

Yep, we were ready to go to the annual fourth of July parade.


And I finally learned where to park...at the start of the parade. If you do that, there are no long gaps between groups, you're not waiting an hour for it to start, you get to leave early, and most importantly, they haven't run out of candy.

It was all about the candy...as it is most years, but I went with it this year. We ate as much as a we could. I said, "Yes, yes, yes," and it felt good. It's tiring having to play bad cop most of the time, so this was refreshing.

And for the record, balloons are just as great as candy.


Love the boats! We are lucky to see a large group of sailboats in the lake some mornings and they are so beautiful. On my to do list is to find a place that will let us take the kids on a sailboat for a bit.


Diego was able to enjoy it more this year. He cheered the people on as they drove by.


"Yeah, Mom. This is definitely fun.


I love this picture of Isabela. It's really hard to get a natural one of her....she sees me pointing the camera in her direction and quickly turns around or poses...but here is her beautiful smile that we love.


Hope everyone had a very happy fourth of July!!