our fourth

(warning: this post contains LOTS of pictures!)

 

for the fourth of july we drove up to durango, co to stay at the cabin and spend the holiday with the grandparents. it was a change from our oregon tradition of spending the fourth with our good friends the dimit’s, but  because they were too far away we started a new tradition!

 

mitch’s parent’s spend the fourth at the cabin most years so they had things planned out. they woke up early that morning and went into the town of bayfield to save us seats along the parade route. i had never been to a small town parade so i was pretty excited to see what bayfield had to offer.

 

we arrived a couple hours later and found them saving our seats. so, we sat down to wait…

on the left side of the picture are mitch’s dad, mom, and grandma.

 

first, they started with the “pet parade”. it was very interesting to see what people do to their pets…

 

first, there was this pair of dogs pulling the radio flyer wagon with the little girl…

then, there were the dogs that were dressed up by their owners….

  if they only knew, i’m sure they wouldn’t stand for it!!

 

but kawena was sure fascinated by them..

i tell you, this girl needs a dog! whenever she sees a dog or a puppy she immediately wants to go play with them. someday, sweet girl, we will get you a dog!

 

and then there was this dude riding his cooler!

now that is the way to travel! he was whizzing back and forth on that thing…it was awesome.

 

after the pet parade, the real parade came through town with horses and tractors and military cars and floats with bands and all the rescue vehicles…

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it was a pretty cute, small town parade. i was sitting next to this old lady and when the fire truck came by spraying water out the back she covered her gray hair with her hands and said, “no! no! not this way, my hair!!” it was pretty funny!

 

the kids got lots of candy and beads handed and thrown to them. i would venture to say that they had a good time, too….

they were all smiles and looked pretty happy at the end of the parade, don’t you think?!

 

after the parade we drove back to the cabin and i took a nap with the baby while mitch tried to get the other three to nap, to no avail. then, it was time for dinner. we had hot dogs and hamburgers. my favorite were these…

that mitch brought from our garden at home and grilled on the barbie! he even let the girls help season them…

and nani got to be the taste tester…

 

after dinner the girls entertained us with a “show” of sorts, which involved big sticks…

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we were all convinced that someone would get hurt, but they surprised us and we all survived unscathed!

 

after dinner and the show we took the girls to get some ice cream at the country store. then it was off to wait for the fireworks over the lake.

 

unfortunately, we parked by a bunch of crazies with beer and fireworks…not a very good combination as they clearly demonstrated. they had a campfire and had lined up all of their “illegal” fireworks in front of it. they were shooting them off while their kids threw the small fireworks INTO the campfire. at one point i guess one of the “illegal” fireworks either tipped into the fire or one of the kids threw it into the fire and we were lucky not to get  impaled by it!  the girls were a bit concerned…

 

so, after that close call we moved our chairs to the other side of our car to provide a safety barrier between us and the crazies and anymore exploding fireworks!

 

then, the REAL fireworks began…

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and i actually remembered my tripod and got some cool shots! then it was off to the cabin for some much needed rest!

 

 

from the waking up early in the morning to the staying up late at night, we had a wonderful fourth of july! it was not like any other fourth of july i had ever had, but it was very good one!