4th of July Fun!

We started our 4th off with a parade!  There was one on Saturday in a nearby town that Lilly was in so we went to see her.  She was a princess candidate.  Too cute!

She threw candy to Andrew.  It was so cute because it didn't go very far!

Andrew was cracking me up.  All he cared about was the candy.  Totally.  He had fists full of it and just kept opening it and eating one piece after another before I could even catch him!  Stinker!  As you can see in every picture he is either picking up candy or trying to unwrap it!  Ha!  The man with the geese was the most unique thing I've ever seen in a parade so I had to share it!  The geese were all dressed up, it was hilarious!

The next day we debated whether to go to the lake or not because the forecast was for rain the entire time.  But we decided to brave it and thought we'd have fun in the pool regardless of the rain!

Andrew had a blast in the pool!  He kicked with his little swim board and just had a ball!

His new thing is jumping into someone's arms...he loves it!  He is so fast you really have to catch him quick because he'd jump right in even if no one was standing there!  Ha!

After swimming we had a little party in our hotel room!  We got a big suite with Ga Ga and Papa, too.  It was so fun!  Andrew liked pretending to talk on the phone.  He'd pick it up and go "Hello Papa!"  It was so funny.  Until he pulled the cord so far it almost yanked the lamp off the end table!  Ha!

We had a little kitchenette and Papa brought his popcorn popper (We were prepared to be cooped up inside because of the rain!)  We had the portable DVD player ready to go!

Andrew thought that it was just the coolest thing!

Wow!

Ga Ga bought him his very own little Woody and Buzz popcorn container!

He loves popcorn- he just ate and ate!

Before the fireworks we had time to kill so we went to Andrew's favorite store- Target.

He's thinking about which movie to sucker Ga Ga into buying for him!

The rain cleared off in perfect time for the fireworks to go on as planned.  As usual, they were spectacular!  And there is nothing quite like watching the fireworks overlooking the lake.

Andrew found his own chair to sit in and watch, but he also shared the love with Ga Ga, too!  He was pretty tired after such a long day but he stayed awake until we headed back to the hotel.

I love this picture because it shows all the boats lit up on the lake.  Sometimes we take our boat out to watch them too but decided against it this year because of the rain chances!  It is really neat when the fireworks are over to watch all the boat lights driving away!

I don't know if you can tell, but this is a car/boat!  Have you ever seen such a thing?  It drives with wheels right into the water and starts to float!  It is so cool!  Every once in a while we see it when we are up at the lake.

Andrew held out Winnie the Pooh and Tigger so they could see the fireworks too!  Ha!

I loved using my new camera to experiment with these pictures!

I think they turned out pretty neat!  This one is funny because of all the smoke left from the fireworks!  That is how the sky really looks!

I loved this one, too.  These are my favorite fireworks, the ones that are huge and then drip down like this.

The next morning they had the parade, since the 4th was on a Sunday this year.  Thankfully the rain held off all day and we could enjoy the festivities.  Andrew again was obsessed with the candy and could have cared less about much else!  Notice in all the pictures his mouth is full!  Ha!

I love this of him looking up at Craig after sneaking another piece of candy!

It was so funny this little girl behind him in the pictures was helping him get the candy since all he was doing was sitting there eating it and not running out to pick any up!  Ha!

Next we walked downtown to the carnival and we got a taste of what Disneyworld is going to be like...times about a million!  Ha!  It was hot, lines were long and I am sure it was nothing compared to how hot Florida is right now!  Plus, Andrew did NOT want to wait in line.  Not even for 2 seconds!

 Mr. Impatient! 

He had an absolute blast on every single ride he could get on!  It was wristband day so I'd say he got his money's worth!

He likes riding with other kids.  He is so friendly!  He is always looking at them and smiling.

This ride was his favorite.  It was an alligator roller coaster and last year he was too little to go on it, but not this year!

 He wasn't the least bit scared and laughed and smiled the whole time.  Even though the kid behind him was screaming and crying to get off!  Ha!

He wanted to just stay on when it was over and go again and again!

Mommy even got in on the fun!  Ha!  I always like taking him on the super slide.

This picture just makes me laugh!  We obviously had a ton of fun!  Ha!

Andrew rode the carousel too.  This is the first year he has liked it.

Then he went on the bumper cars with daddy and he loved that, too!

He kept looking up to see how it was attached to the ceiling!  He always wants to know how everything works!

Andrew ate his first corn dog- he loved it!

 He was a little confused at first why a hot dog was on a stick (ha!) but he got the hang of it!

By this time we were all pretty much soaking wet with sweat and Andrew was so filthy!  So we thought it would feel good for him to run through the splash fountains at the park, and he had a ball!

We were all wishing we could run through with all the kids, too!  Ha!  It was so hot!

Oh well, next winter we can dream about this when we are inside watching it blizzard out!  Ha!

We had a great time at the lake once again!  The 4th of July just isn't the same unless we're at the lake.  Even if it's raining I still feel the need to be there!  I have yet to miss a 4th of July at the lake and I hope to keep it that way for a long, long time!

Somebody had a very long and tiring weekend!  Ha!  He crashed the second we got in the car.

We hope all of you had a wonderful 4th!