The girls and I headed up to Clear Lake for the 4th of July last Sunday through Wednesday. I LOVE 4th of July in Clear Lake - the parade, the carnival, the fireworks, etc. Clear Lake goes all out every year and they never disappoint. Part of it is just the fact that I grew up there and I have so many memories of celebrating with family from when I was young. My aunt and uncle live at the beginning of the parade route on a huge corner lot and it is always fun to be with family the morning of the parade. All of my cousins would be there each year and it is so fun that we are all still there but now with kids of our own to enjoy the parade. Aside from actually celebrating the 4th of July we were also able to be there for a wedding shower for my cousin Casey on my dad's side of the family (sadly I have no pictures of this) and the birth of my new niece, born to my brother Dustin and sister-in-law Melodee. So while our time there wasn't exactly the most restful, our days were full of family and it was wonderful!
She chose this outfit herself. I really don't have any words...she takes dress up to a whole new level!
If you saw the previous post you may have noticed the part about Olivia always telling us, "Livie do it!" This is especially true when it comes to buttoning her shorts/pants. She gets mad when we try to do it and then about 1 minute later comes to us saying, "Help? Please?"
The first night we were home, my brother's family joined us for a little pool time in the backyard and burgers on the grill. It was a beautiful evening and a great time together. Might have been my favorite part of the whole weekend. (Left to right: Sister-in-law Melodee, baby to be, Kirby the dog, Olivia, my nephew Samuel and the lower half of my brother Dustin.)
Seriously...could he be any cuter???
This next series of 3 pictures just cracks me up. You can just imagine what both of them must be thinking.
Samuel: Ooooo, I really want that ball.
Olivia: I have this ball, and he's not going to get it.
Olivia: Ok, so I guess he really IS going to try to get it. Maybe if I give him the mean face and say "mine" he will leave me alone.
Samuel: Yeah, I think I can take her.
There is no picture of the "fight" that went down (it really wasn't that bad) but since we all had to break it up, there was no picture.
Samuel: "I'm sorry Olivia. Let's hug and be friends."
Olivia: "Yeah, ok. But I'm still not going to give you the ball."
My bathing beauty =)
Tired after a long day...
The next morning we woke up and got ready for the parade but first the girls helped Grandma make monkey bread. And leave it to grandma to make it festive!
Dressing up my little firecracker!
I made a 4th of July tu-tu for each of the girls - which was so fun to do, and really easy (saving that for another post.) We got a lot of comments on them from people around town wondering where we had bought them. I think I may have to make some ahead of time and advertise next year. What do you think?
We burned off the monkey bread by walking to my Aunt's house for the parade. It was pretty warm but it beat fighting the traffic and it was fun to see the whole town getting ready for the parade as we walked down Main Street.
The kiddos getting their snacks and juice before the parade started. Left to right: Abbie, Olivia, my nephew Samuel, and my cousin Jeremiah's daughter Rowan.
Last year Olivia slept through the whole parade so I didn't know how she would react but she did great and sat down by the street collecting candy the whole time!
This is my last family picture of them as a family of 3! (Melodee had a scheduled c-section 2 days later.)
I copied my friend Missy and painted all of our toe nails to match. Abbie sat further down the street with my mom so her toes are missing from the picture.
My Grandma Charlie and my cousin Cassie's daughter Lexi.
Rowan and Olivia.
My mom got handed this necklace close to the beginning of the parade and passed it down for Olivia to wear. She wore it for about 15 minutes when I noticed that it was a Bud Light necklace...nice Mom, real nice!
So I will give you one guess as to what happens when there are little girls in cute tu-tus at the beginning of the parade route. They get handed LOADS of candy...ridiculous amounts of candy. They didn't even have to run and get it. People just came up with handfuls and put it in their bags.
My cousin Michaela and her niece Rowan.
Abbie learned about the American Flag at daycare the week before the 4th of July so she loved seeing all the flags this year. We have actually had some really good talks about our freedom and the reasons why we personally fly our flag at home.
Sweet, sleepy baby Quinn. My cousin Jeremiah's other daughter just born in May.
Olivia was trying to check on baby Evan - my cousin Lindsay's son.
That night Abbie told me that she really wanted to see the fireworks but that she wanted to take a nap first. So we put her to bed at 8:30 and I told her I would wake her up when it was time to leave. Well, this child sleeps like a rock and it was impossible to wake her up. BUT...I knew that if I didn't take her I would probably be in trouble the next day so we put her in the wagon asleep and drug her to the fireworks. She sort of woke up but had her face buried in my shoulder the whole time with her ears plugged. But I did my job and took her like I had promised =)
This is looking down toward the end of my parent's street. I realize the picture is blurry - I took it while walking in the dark but I thought it was such a pretty evening. The moon over the lake with all the boats waiting to see the fireworks.
We sat in the yard of one of my parent's friends right on the lake. So beautiful! This picture pretty much sums up Abbie's time at the fireworks. She never got mad - just slept through the whole thing.
Looking down toward the carnival while waiting for the show to begin.
Tuesday we sort of laid low since we all had late bedtimes the night before. Tuesday night we went to some friend's of my parents for dinner. We grilled out for dinner but this is what the girls were REALLY excited about =).
The last day we were in CL we headed down to City Beach with my mom and let the girls kick around in the sand and water for a while. My mom left early to go to the hospital where my brother and sister-in-law were having a baby that afternoon.
Contemplating...
Not contemplating...
Again...another great series of 3. Her facial expressions kill me. It's like she is trying to hoard it before anyone else gets any.
Rare photo alert. The fact that my girls are this close together and happy is a miracle. I made them sit there together so I could get all the sand washed off their feet and they are starting to discover that they might actually like each other. =)
Silly face picture!
They even continued to play well together when we got home for about 30 minutes, making their "recipe" which consisted of grass, dirt, sticks and lots of flowers from my mom's many pots. I didn't even care that they were picking the flowers since they were getting along so well. I didn't want to go outside and ruin their fun so I just let them be.
I told Abbie that I have so many fond memories of my backyard from when I was young. It is so fun to watch my girls play in the same back yard. We spent a lot of our time out there this trip!
And the last thing we did before we left to come home was to go visit our new niece/cousin. I only took Abbie since Olivia had a little cold.
Look at this little beauty! Eliza June Ward - born July 6, 2011. 8 lbs. 3 oz., 21 inches We certainly saved the best for last. Congratulations Dustin, Melodee and big brother Samuel! Love you guys!
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