land of the free and the home of the brave

what a perfectly lovely weekend. the weather was almost perfect every day and that's good enough for me. I spent most of my time on my parent's back patio visiting with friends and family and it was simply heaven.

friday was the big day for our family. the fourth of july is one of my sister's favorite holidays so she took the whole weekend off in order to celebrate in proper fashion. we begun the day with the parade in pasco. we thought it was longer than usual and lots of good candy. someone even threw otter pops out, how fantastic is that idea?! we always sit in the same place, with the same people. I hadn't seen them in years so it was fun to catch up in between cheering for the local dance team. how fun!

the rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent preparing for the holiday barbecue. I cleaned the patio off, helped my dad hang lights, and helped set up chairs. there was even a little time to visit with marilyn while I picked up my handpicked blueberries for the fruit salad. yummy.

my parents live only a few blocks from the river where one of the local fireworks presentations are, so those willing to brave the late hour, cold(ish) wind, and crowds all walk down to for the show.

my favorite parts:

• parade
• hotdogs on the grill
• seeing friends
• perfect weather
• meeting carsten for the first time
• angie's flag cake
• flag bunting on deck railing
• meeting katie's friend brad
• fresh cherries
  
  

ready for the parade.
I coordinated noemi and kyle's wedding in 2002. they just had their second baby less than two weeks ago. she looked great!

mom and sadie.
mom used to babysit sadie when she was a baby. she is almost 12 now.

fresh watermelon and cherries. and a little girl smiling at me from across the table.
summer loving.

me, chandra and angie.
sneak peek of baby carsten. more to come.

sweet alex and some watermelon love.

it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
alex was unfotunately in the path of an oncoming frisbee which resulted in a scary bloody nose. she recovered quickly, don't worry.

alex, angie, aunt jean, abby, ethan, and jeff.
on the way down to the river for fireworks.

brad and katie.
sorry for the finger mark (alex took the photo) but it was so good of kate and brad, I couldn't not use it.

grand finale.