Independence Day.

It's hard to believe it's been over a month (eek!) since I've blogged. I have so much to catch you up on, but for now I wanted to get back into the blogging swing by posting some pictures from our 4th of July.

We spent the day at I Love America and couldn't have had more fun! The forecast was calling for rain, but thankfully it held off and we had a beautiful day. We arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon and didn't leave until after 10:00...three hours past Brady's bed time. We, along with 100,000 people, spent the day in the hot sun enjoying all the things the event had to offer. There was an air show (with a B-52 flyover!), bands, food, a black hawk you could climb in (or, if you're Brady, push buttons and flip switches in), Hummers to explore, ambulances to crawl through, and so much more. It really was a great family day. And the fireworks? Amazing!

One of our first stops of the day was the Hummer. Brady spotted it immediately and excitedly (and repeatedly) exclaimed: Hummer!

At first he was content to "drive".

Then, he noticed there was a horn to honk (thankfully, it didn't make a sound).

Then, he tried to kick it into drive (double thanks that didn't work!).

After the Hummer, it was time for the Black Hawk. Of course, to Brady it was just a "big, black, helicopter!". In typical Brady fashion, his first stop was to check out the wheel.

Then, it was straight to the cockpit.

Oh yeah, he was into it.

After we made the rounds, we went back to our seats and enjoyed some watermelon. Can you believe they actually gave it away...for free?! They served over 12,000 pounds of watermelon. Brady loved it. He put away three pieces, and probably would've had more but they ran out.

It was a long, but fun, day. I am amazed (and blessed!) at how well Brady did! What a trooper! He didn't get fussy once, was pleasant and happy all day, and managed to stay awake for the fireworks....which he loved! He was so tired by the end of the day, I think he was asleep before Mike and I got our seat belts buckled.

We managed to get a family portrait at the end of the night. We're not looking our best, but hey, it was a long day. Yes, we were wearing matching shirts. It's cheesy but I love it! I sense a new tradition coming on!

And, just for fun, here we were last year (ignore the crazy wide-eyed expression Brady and I are sporting).

We are so thankful to our church for putting on such an amazing event. It's such a blessing to be a part of a church that gives back to the community and knows how to have fun. It's a huge undertaking, over 3,500 man-hours are needed to prepare the day's festivities, and it's primarily done by volunteers. I can't even attempt to guess at how much it costs to put on, and yet, they offer it for free just to be a blessing to the community. This was our first year going, but it definitely won't be our last!

Note: Since the blog has been abandoned, I gave it a new, updated look. What do you think? A special thanks to Lance for snapping the picture that's displayed in the new banner!