Children of the Corn

Over the 4th of July weekend we took our annual "Knee High by the Fourth of July" pictures in Great-Papa's corn. This year we were joined by our new little cousin, John, and some ominous clouds. That combination made for some epic pictures.








(Although poor John looks kind of miserable...he wasn't really. Just a bit fussy. No babies were harmed in the photographing of corn.)

Fourth of July 2013

Well, I can't believe that it was time for the 4th of July already....let alone that it was 10 days ago. This summer is flying. FLYING.

We made our annual trek north for Brockway's Olde Fashioned 4th of July on Wednesday afternoon. We had about ten straight days of rain before then, so we weren't totally hopeful, but it turned out to be a LOVELY week/weekend!

On Wednesday afternoon we hung out at Grammy and Papa's house and had some Paesano's pizza. You can't NOT have Paesano's pizza when given the opportunity. We were just herding the kids back for a bath when JOE arrived to drop off some stuff for the next day. Colin literally levitated off the couch when he heard Joe's voice. And then Joe got a huge hug.


On Thursday morning we were up and at 'em early. After some breakfast we took the kids into town to play on the playground, see who we could see, and grab some fireman's donuts.



Family see saw!




This was third breakfast...donuts and lemonade.



We dropped into the craft show area to say HI to Mrs. Kathy who was selling some crafts this year. And G saw this ribbon crown. It was only $2, so I was happy to oblige.


Near lunchtime we returned to Grammy's house on the hill. Thankfully Joe was there to pull the children around endlessly in the wagon...


Oh, and the bike racers were just making it past Grammy's house, so we CHEERED for them all!



We had a great picnic lunch, as usual, and were joined by Matt, Rachel, and Lil' John this year!


After lunch we kept the kids busy with the wading pool and some plastic cups. And Joe.



Then it was parade time. And this year Gillian remembered that there would be candy. And we had to take a bag to collect it in. We met up with Matt, Rachel, and John again at the parade. And my cousin Becky and her little boy, Sven, met us too.






A parade rainbow!


Gillian and Sven sharing some fritos.



After the parade we did some sparkles (in the daylight) before bed. Colin was very afraid that they would be LOUD. But once he decided that they were quiet, he was very pleased with them. And so was Gillian!





A great day full of fun! Just like always at the Olde Fashioned 4th!

Independence Day Pre-Party

The weekend before the Fourth of July, Rachel and Matt invited us to a party at the country club with Rachel's family. We figured, why not? It would be nice to let the kids watch some fireworks without the whole, long Brockway 4th before hand! Turns out, this was a GREAT party! The kids (and Daddy and me) had a great time! LOTS of kids' activities (bounce houses, face painting, sand traps as sandboxes, you know) and yummy food and FIREWORKS!

Taking in ALL the fun...


Oh yeah! That's FUN!


Colin actually won this particular activity!




I'm not sure how the groundskeepers feel about this annual party...


The kids easily stayed up for the 9:45 fireworks. They were very excited to see fireworks for the first time. I think Colin was afraid that they were going to be REALLY loud though, so he started covering his ears about 10 minutes before the set off the first firework! He kept them covered almost the whole time though, but at the end he dropped his hands and just enjoyed them. I was hearing lots of WOAHs and LOOK AT THAT! from both kids. They both gave fireworks two THUMBS UP. Daddy and I did NOT give two thumbs up to the 7:00 am wake up time that both kids observed the next morning....