Happy 4th of July!

Every 4th of July we have a little routine. It all starts out with our awesome ward breakfast at 8 a.m. We show up wearing our patriotic colors and with just a small amount of planning we usually end up being one of the first families through the food line. This, of course, is an essential part of the plan since we have to leave the breakfast by 8:50 a.m. to get to the Murray Parade on time. Every year my family sits in the same location for the parade--right in front of the State Street entrance to Murray park where the big trees shade us until the very end. My parents go much earlier to secure the spot and we usually arrive just as the parade it getting there. Heather and her family were down so the cousins got to watch the parade together.

The Murray parade is a candy parade so the kids come prepared with bags for their loot. Britton is very skilled in the ways of getting parade candy. He waves at every single person in the parade and give them his best smile. He has learned that looking sweet and innocent and enthusiastic brings higher candy returns.
Once the candy has been thrown Britton is FAST! He darts around and usually ends up getting twice as much as anyone else (he is good about sharing, however). Aggressive? yes. Annoying? No. Somehow he can pull it off. He is so quiet about it you don't even realize what is happening.

Then there is Jenna. Jenna is not nearly as aggressive and doesn't get as much candy. She casually strolls to a piece of candy and picks it up but only if it is a) thrown directly at her, or b)no one else saw the candy so she doesn't have any competition. Jenna's favorite part of the parade is watching all of the beauty queens wave in their pretty dresses. Her reaction when a bunch of young baseball playing kids were using super soakers on the parade watchers? "They're going to make my hair lose its curl!!" No kidding.

Korinne wanted to be in the middle of the action. She didn't get a lot of candy, but she made sure she was right with the other kids.

They throw out a lot of salt water taffy at the Murray parade. If you know me you know that salt water taffy is one of the food groups in my book. Don't worry, I NEVER grab any taffy that could potentially go to a small child, but I have no problem "helping" my kids get rid of the taffy they have already accumulated in their own bags. They get so much of it it really becomes quite bothersome i.e. their bags get too heavy, etc. That's me, the "super helpful" Mom.