4th of July

We started off our 4th of July celebration early by attending the Chalfont parade.  Somehow we got there insanely early.  We found some great spots near the end of the parade.  Forgetting how long it can take a parade to march it's route, we ended up waiting for 1 hour and 15 minutes to see it.  The kids were convinced the parade was never going to come. 

Hazel was pretty excited to sit in this little chair though. 

Still waiting for the parade to come. 

Finally it did

Last year on the 4th of July, the kids attended their very first parade.  It was a good one, in which the kids collected an awful lot of candy.  Now I think their expectations of parades are much too high - you see here in Pennsylvania, for some reason, only 4 or 5 people throw candy.  In this case, no candy was actually thrown, but some parade participants walked over to hand the kids a piece of candy.  Poor Hazel got over looked every time someone came by.  I don't think she cared too much - she was pretty happy with her baba. 

I thought this cute little car with the driver dressed up as Uncle Sam was very patriotic

A cute little girl waving her flag.

I was so happy to see/hear these bag - pipers

There was even an appearance by none other than Herbie

Zabien was thrilled to see so many tractors and requested several pictures with them. 

After the parade, we jotted home to pack a lunch.  Then we headed to Valley Forge for their Independence Day carnival.  The weather was humid and hot.  I don't remember there being hoards of people there 2 years ago when we went, but a lot of people came out this year.  We had a difficult time finding a place to park.  When we finally got in, we decided to have our picnic beside this tree. 

After lunch, the kids used the strength they got from lunch to try and hit the liberty bell. 

Zabien

Eliza

Bruce

Hazel spent some time looking for Colonial ruins in the sand.

Zabien really wanted to throw at this dunk tank

Eliza actually hit the bullseye, but not with enough force to dunk her. 

After the games the kids spent a very short amount of time building a log cabin with these pool noodles. 

Next we made our own tri-corn hats

such adorable kids

We attempted to dress up as Colonial time period citizens

Hazel managed to keep the hat on long enough for me to snap a picture

Then it was time to enlist in the Continental Army and train like a soldier.  The wooden muskets went quickly, but the kids patience won out.  Other kids got bored by the marching and standing at attention, which left us with a few muskets to practice with. 

After their short stint in the army, we did a couple of crafts including a fingerprint USA flag and firework art.  Then we took a turn sitting in a firetruck. 

Hazel was less than thrilled

Some patriotic face painting right at the end of the carnival.  Eliza got red, white, and blue hearts and Zaby got a Captain America shield. 

Before we left Valley Forge, we walked up to the soldier's encampment area and saw a live demonstration of the shooting of a cannon.  Eliza was terrified by it (she doesn't like loud booms), so she ran behind the cabins and didn't come back until it was over.  Zabien thought it was pretty cool.  He was a little nervous about the loud sound, but when it wasn't as bad as he feared, he wanted to watch them shoot it again.  We took a few minutes to get a family picture with the cabins in the background.   

We ran into a family in our ward (which never happens outside of church).  The kids really wanted to take a picture with Sawyer - he's birthday buddies with Zabien. 

Being silly at the entrance to the soldier barracks. 

Oh why do I have to be small?  I want to climb these cabin walls. 

After we were done at Valley Forge, we let the kids take a late nap, grabbed some dinner, then headed south to Quakertown to watch the fireworks.  We got there an hour and half early, so the kids had some time to play on the playground.  Zabien and I laid out our blankets.  The forecast was not looking good, so they moved the fireworks up to half an hour earlier.  It's a good thing they did.  About half way through the show, we were caught in a torrential downpour.  It was raining so hard, it would have been quite comical to get a picture of all 5 of us huddling under one small umbrella.  The firework show, despite the downpour, was quite impressive.  They rushed a 30 minute show into 15 minutes.  It was like the grand finale for the whole show.  The kids were so excited about the fireworks, they were champs during it despite being soaked to the bones.  Hazel found the fireworks fascinating. 

Happy 4th of July.  It was great to spend Independence Day in a place where independence began.