Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! I can't believe this is another SECOND holiday for Lucy. It was a rather low key weekend for us, but it did hold some firsts for Lucy.

For many years, my whole family gathered at my Grandma's house to watch the Farragut July 4th parade, then eat lunch and spend time together. It was something my Grandma looked forward to all year long. She only came to the parade a few times-her joy was in doing all the cooking while we were at the parade, then watching us all feed our faces when we came in hot and sweaty from the little cheesy community parade. My Grandma died three and a half years ago, and we've not gone to the parade in a few more years than that. However, this year we thought that Lu might like a little parade...

She not only liked it, she loved the darn thing! I have NOT ONE PICTURE of it (I know you are SHOCKED). Her favorite part: the helicopter...no wait! Elmo... No! Getting suckers...or maybe the horses...or it could be the cows from Chick-fil-a. No, I think it might have been waving to the fire trucks. Basically people, she loved every minute of it. And let me just say, the town of Farragut has beefed up the parade a bit. It was L O N G. We actually left before it was over. The kid was fading, and we could see floats for as far as the eye could see. It was lunch time, and nap time, and it was getting warm....She didn't know the difference (next year will be another story though). My Grandma is proud. I know she was looking down on us, eyes beaming. No doubt she was having a good 4th too!

After that, we left Lucy with her grandparents (who took her out and bought her a helicopter and camera toy-thanks guys). Bryan and I got a DATE! We went to a movie-Grownups. It was HILARIOUS. We peed in our pants, almost, several times. It was so good. Not like Oscar good, but very entertaining. We had a marvelous dinner at Bonefish Grill afterwards. It was so very yummy AND I got to eat it HOT. We also got NINE HOURS OF SLEEP-STRAIGHT SLEEP!!! NO WAKING!!! We haven't had that for A MONTH! It was beautiful.

Today, the 4th, was laid back. We went to church, got Lucy back, went out for ice cream, and grilled out and ate too much. It was fun and easy and there was not a lot of "hoopla".

Lucy LOVED the ice cream, as you can see from the pictures.

She ate TWO hot dogs ( I should mention she did not eat at all yesterday, and of course I panicked, but it is fine now). It took her FOREVER to fall asleep tonight, and I know we'll be up at least once tonight, but over all, it was a great day.

Here is last year!

Can you believe it?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!