Noah's First Fourth

We had a pretty uneventful 4th of July in the Nielson home.  Because of the wild fires all over the state of Colorado, most cities canceled their fireworks shows.  I had this dream of lying on a lawn with Noah and Ryan, watching fireworks overhead (I always romanticize holidays), so I was pretty bummed that we wouldn't be taking Noah to watch fireworks after all.  I am still pretty bummed about it, actually.  But I guess there's always next year.

Determined to make the holiday at least a little bit festive, I suggested that we spend the night at my Dad's house on the 3rd, get up and make red, white, and blue pancakes for breakfast, and then walk with the kids in the annual neighborhood parade on the morning of the 4th.  

Well, in typical Westover fashion, we got a slow start on the day and had to skip the patriotic pancakes, and then we were late getting to the parade, so we missed it.  Yes, we are awesome!

Don't worry, though, we had our own parade.  Ryan pulled the boys in a decorated wagon, and Sarah and I walked alongside them pushing Jade in her stroller and singing "You're a Grand Old Flag." 

Noah was ecstatic and laughed the entire time we were walking.  I think he was mostly amused by the fact that he got to whack his cousin Callum in the face with his plastic flag.  Callum wasn't too happy about it and cried most of the way home.

I feel kind of bad that Noah had such a lame first 4th of July--but from the pure glee on his face in the pictures from our "parade," I'm pretty sure that he didn't really care.

Maybe we'll get him to a real parade (and some fireworks!) next year. :)