Summer of Awesome: Independence Day Edition

Yes, yes, I know it's well past the 4th of July.  But better late than never, right?  Right!  Let's go!

This 4th of July marked two firsts:  Livy's first Independence Day and Livy's participation in her first parade.  Usually I hate parades - I find them boring to watch live, and I find sitting and standing in huge crowds for long periods of time irritating.  But walking in a parade is a different story.  This is my 3rd, and the attention plus the perambulation equals pure Me Show joy!  I like people looking at me!  I like walking and waving!  I LIKE PEOPLE LOOKING AT ME WHILE I WALK AND WAVE!  Luckily for her, so does Olivia.

The parade was a little Mayberry-type affair in my aunt, uncle, and cousins' neighborhood in Puyallup (pronounced pyoo-AL-up, regardless of the Morah's insistence on saying POY-uhl-up).

Cousins on parade!

Here we are preparing for our daring march.  Clockwise from left, that's David, Emily, me, Hannah, and Livy.  Emily was thrilled to spend the day with her little cousin, and Hannah was glad to see us both.  David just wanted to hear me belch like a dyspeptic trucker and make fart jokes.  I didn't disappoint.

I'll kill you for this one day, Mommy.

You like that pimped out patriotic baby-and-stroller combo?  Of course you do!  I had the outfit planned for weeks, down to the ludicrous hair bow, and Hannah and I went nuts with the crepe paper.  As we were taping streamers to the stroller, Hannah told me to taste the crepe paper.  I'm an idiot, so I did.  It's really salty, a fact that Olivia enjoyed as she tried again and again to devour her decorations.

We were led by an antique fire truck filled with happy patriots.

Emily and Livy got tired of the parade at roughly the same time.  It was a longer walk than any of us bargained for.

We were all grateful to retire to the community picnic.  Here beautiful Hannah holds Livy, who enjoyed holding the gluten-free hotdogs more than anyone should.

Then we returned to Aunt Katie and Uncle Kirk's house where Olivia enjoyed the playful mauling of a huge monkey named Stripes while Uncle Kirk sneaked a snuggle.

Livy may have SLB's face, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, does she ever have Uncle Kirks huge, melon-like noggin.

It's hard to say whether she's a fan of the Elmo puppet Emily gave her or not.  It's easy to say that she loves gnawing on his eyeballs like a ravenous vulture.

It was a great celebration, and I'm already planning on upping the ante for next year.  We'll throw candy!  We'll add glittery streamers and pompoms!  We'll all dress like Uncle Sam!  Beware, pyoo-AL-up, we've got 11 months to plan, and we mean business!