4th of july.

the fourth of july is one of my all time favorite holidays. I love it.

the patriotism, colors, smells, activities, all of it.

I. just. ♥ it. 

annnyway. 

the fourth of july with my family always starts out at the parade. pancake breakfast at the firehouse first, and then we run into basically everyone we know before the parade starts. it's great.

yes, to take this, i was indeed "that girl" standing in the middle of the street with her iphone. deal with it, yo...;) hehehe.

addy and I during the parade. she was not stoked about the camera. and then my brother. my very, very handsome brother. his civil air patrol squadron always leads the parade. they're all straight faced and serious...it's kinda cute...I just love how handsome he's getting though. but let it be known, any girl he dates is going to have to be approved by me first..;) ha.

these guys are great. every year they have a routine they do for ya. military style ski drills. so fun. 

kiddos.

the day continues at one of the local lakes. only locals (or people who have second/third/tenth homes) can come. so it's basically the entire town. there are activities all day. pie eating contests, tug of war, hula hooping (which, by the way, I took fourth in ;), sack races, egg tosses, you know. all that fun patriotic stuff. I only got one picture of the evening... isn't it lovely?

and then there are fireworks. 20 minutes of them. my my my. love. my phone died half way through, but you get to see some at least. 

and a video for you. 

hope y'all had a lovely and wonderful and safe 4th of july!