4th of July:post 3

The day before the 4th, Holden was so excited to help me decorate his wagon for our little neighborhood parade. It was really fun for me to see him grasp the concept this year. He is becoming such a little person! Unfortunately, the 4th dawned cold, wet, and gloomy. Yuck! My parents came to watch the parade in hopes that the rain would pass, but it started raining even HARDER right before it was time to start. Well, "the show must go on," so Mom and I pulled the wagon in from the garage and up the stairs, and Dad pulled him around the living room and kitchen. Fortunately he can't remember last year's parade, so he thought he was hot stuff and didn't know what he was missing! :)

"All Fired Up..." and no place to go! :( All of our plans on the 4th revolved around the great outdoors. Jay was working until 3:00 and my parents were over, and we were like, "Now what?" Holden didn't seem to mind. Love that goofy little grin!

We decided to head to the mall to hit the sales and hopefully entertain the little guy. Such a strange 4th for me. But it will be a memorable one because it was different. Holden rode the little cars, enjoyed the carousel with Grammy, ate pretzel nuggets, and had fun touring the mower section of Sears. He also got a kick out of riding the escalators at Macy's and Bergner's. :)

After Holden had his nap and Jay got home from work we headed to my parents' house for dinner. Dad pulled the grill under the garage overhang, and Holden had fun hanging out in there.

Jay grilled salmon that Dad had caught on his fishing trip recently, we had a little piano recital performed by Mom and Holden, and Dad helped him do sparklers all by himself like a big boy. He was very conscientious of the flame and looks so serious in these pictures, but he loved them!

We parked in the local community college parking lot and watched the fireworks since it was still rainy and cold. Holden was a real trooper, as the show kept getting delayed due to the dampness. We got there at 8pm and they finally started at 9:30! The pouty picture is around 9:15..."let's get this show started, already, Mommy!" At first he snuggled up in Jay's lap and kept hiding his face, saying, "Holden is scared. Too loud!" He came around though after he saw they weren't going to hurt us, and enjoyed the display. We thought it was hilarious that he kept saying, "Ooh! Smoke! Hot! Get the hose, buddies!" He calls firefighters buddies for some reason. Don't you wonder what is going on in their little heads?

Here is a cute video of Papa and Holden doing sparklers together. At the beginning you'll hear me saying, "Come on!" I just missed catching him saying it right before. He disliked having to wait for the sparkler to light and would say, "C'mon, Papa! Light it!"