July 4 for Us

We had a great Independence Day last weekend. It was busy but fun and full of activity.
Friday night it started with decorating a float for our church to ride in our local town parade. The theme was a jungle to match the Vacation Bible School we are doing this week. It's amazing what creative people can do with plastic tablecloths, brown paper, some cardboard and paint. Add stuffed animals and smiling kids and it was a winner of a float!
The parade was Saturday morning and Princess enjoyed riding on the float, although she did get tired of waving. Big Boy slept most of the time in his stroller but he still brought out the smiles in people. After a quick rest at home, we headed out for a picnic and fireworks. Always great spending time with friends.
Sunday started with regular services then a missions group was here to help out with VBS preparations. After lunch, they dove in and we spent the afternoon decorating everything we could find. Our evening service was spent in prayer for the VBS week to come and the kids involved. More setup and prep and finally getting home after a 12 hour day!! We pretty much tumbled into bed.
And now we're off with VBS!! We had a great first day and can't wait for the rest of this week.

 One of my favorite things about summer...fresh fruit!! Can't get enough. We had grapes, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, watermelon, and blackberries. Sigh.

 Our layered desserts for the picnic. Angel food cake, vanilla pudding, berries. They were so easy to transport in this canning jars with plastic wrap on top.

 The kids had fun too!!! Flags and glowsticks kept them occupied while we waited for fireworks.

 Just a beautiful place to enjoy the evening. We had a *small* dust/windstorm that we were afraid might ruin the festivities but it eventually blew past. At one point we couldn't see the mountains for the dust!! Yikes!!

Big Boy with his almost-matching friend. They both wore stripes with monkeys.  :)   They're about 7 months apart and I don't want to imagine the mischief they'll try next year!!

From my family to yours, happy independence day!! I hope you had a great weekend also.