4th of July 2011

We started our 4th of July late on July 3. We decided to go to 6 Flags the night before the 4th. The show that they do at park closing time has fireworks. While the fireworks were minimal, they were still fireworks! The show also had The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in it, and my cheer leading loving girls thought that was the best thing ever!
With a late night at 6 Flags, getting up for Arlington's annual 4th of July Parade was a bit of a task!! So...needless to say we had a frantic morning trying to get to downtown Arlington by 9:00 am!! We couldn't miss it though! We've gone every 4th, except 1, since Carson was a baby...plus we had friends saving us a spot!!
By the time we got to the parade area, traffic was a nightmare!! We had to park far away, and I'm pretty sure we walked at least a mile and a half!! Carson's face (in the pic below) shows just how much he liked the hike!

Finally we were ready to watch!! Thankfully the Williford fam found a spot next to another teacher at our school who had put up a canopy...the shade was wonderful!!

This one remained a major grouch for the rest of the day!! He doesn't do late nights and early mornings well at all!!

Our friends who saved us a perfect spot!!

The front of the parade

The clown who spotlighted Brian for some laughs!!

Ellie was the only one up for a group pic!! My gang was grouchy with a capital G!!!

a little bribery to take pictures, as we were walking back!! Cade still wasn't up for it!

After the parade we headed to Chik fil A for lunch and to cool down!

Ellie was all smiles with her cookies and cream milkshake!


and this is why my firstborn was in no pictures!! He hates when I pull the camera (or in this case-phone) out!!
After lunch we came home, rested, and later went to the splash park. I caught the NYC fireworks on TV, and we were in bed by 9:30 pm! I heard the fireworks going off just miles from our house, but I was too tired to venture out!!