All-American Girls

Happy Birthday USA!!

We had a great 4th of July this year. It started with the Urbandale parade, where we joined our small group from church and Grandma & Grandpa Reed. The weather was warm, but very, VERY nice for the 4th. The parade lasted about 2 hours. Lauren was pretty much indifferent about the experience, while Bailey was a little ticked off that her softball team wasn't IN the parade this year.

After the parade, we rushed off to the softball fields for the end-of-season awards ceremony. Since Bailey's team won their division, they would receive trophies...and she couldn't wait. Here's a picture of the trophy - complete with an on/off switch for the sparkling lights surrounding the softball at the top of the trophy.

After the softball awards we raced home to grab our caramel apple salad and then took off for the neighborhood 4th of July party. (85% senior citizens). We had a good time visiting and listening to the band play across the street....that is until someone called the police and the band had to shut down. There's always a fun-ruiner in the neighborhood, isn't there?

We all came home after that, collapsed, napped and waited for the fireworks display that night. Urbandale has one of the best shows in the area and they didn't disappoint us this year. Of course the show was about 25 minutes long - while the driving, parking, hauling chairs and blankets, etc. took over an hour. Oh well - very worth it. Lauren LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the grand finale - bouncing up and down, smiling, waving her arms and clapping. Bailey loved it too - all snuggled up on her blanket, in her PJ's, with her pillow and glow sticks in her hair.

A great 4th of July - now back to reality. Laundry, packing for our trip to meet my new nephew, Wyatt in Kentucky, running Bailey to her activities, etc.