Happy 4th!

Mairead has been VERY excited about the 4th of July.  About a month ago, she saw an episode of Blues Clues in which the characters celebrate the 4th by going to a Neighborhood Festival.  Since then, she has asked nearly every day when we are going to the Neighborhood Festival.  So, we found the next best thing- a neighborhood parade!  The neighborhood, though, was in Braintree, where Dave and I had an apartment several years ago.  We have family who live very close to the parade route, so we made plans to park at their house and walk down for the event, which was the Saturday before the 4th.  My cousin, Sarah, was home that day and came to the parade with us, which the kids loved.  Thanks to the Farleys for helping us out!  Mairead LOVED it.  The boys enjoyed it, too, but Mairead just couldn't have been happier.

All of the kids loved the horses.  Mairead's favorite part, though, was the fact that people on the floats were THROWING CANDY!  Right onto the street!  And you could just pick up as much as you wanted!  She could not believe it.  It wasn't that she wanted to eat candy, she just loved collecting it.  She still talks about it.

There were about 5 fire engines in the parade that came blaring their sirens.  It was incredibly loud and some people did not really like that part.

I couldn't get over these guys.  It was pretty hot, so the pavement had to be hot to the touch, yet they walked the entire parade in bare feet!  Even Mairead commented and asked where were their shoes?

For the actual 4th of July, we were in NY visiting Grandma and Grandpa. We have more pictures from our trip, but on the 4th, one of the fun things we did was to toast marshmallows and make s'mores.  Mairead has been talking about doing this for a while, so we were excited to see that Grandma had everything ready for us!

Despite a lot of stress over the fact that Dave is once again searching for a teaching job, we have been having a fun summer.  The kids have had so many great days-- swimming, seeing relatives, making s'mores, eating ice cream, playing with friends, and more.  We are grateful to our families for making our kids feel so happy and so special.  Just yesterday, Brian and Christin came over for a swim and Brian 'flew' the kids into the air and back into the water.  They thought it was the most exciting thing ever!  Mairead showed off the Lowell bathing suit from Christin and started creating 'tricks' in the pool.  At one point, she said, "Wait until Jen and Mike and Bean see this!"  We have been able to spend a lot of time with the kids' cousins, and that is great to see.  We are truly blessed.  Our kids are very happy and have very full and exciting lives, and that is what is most important to us!