Here Comes the Parade

* I can't believe I left out our bicycle parade from the original post!*

My friend Aubrey always organized a bike parade in her neighborhood need Independence Day.  Although I waited until the last minute, I decided to try to bring the same tradition to Minot.  My friend Lindsay took the idea and ran with it!  It is awesome to have crafty friends (and it's also helpful to have friends with more energy than yourself!).

I did take the time to make these easy, peasy shirts with my three kiddos.

Lindsay made a great banner for the big kids to lead with...

and she even had popsicles at the "finish line"!

Last year on the 4th, our family was scattered in 3 different directions.  This year we wanted to do something special... together!

We decided to start the day off with a parade in nearby Velva, ND.  The kids loved it, especially the collecting candy part!

David was pretty fond of all the different types of vehicles.  That boys loves his cars!

After the parade we proceeded to a local park where more fun activities were taking place.

And ended with a free swim at the Velva pool.

Last weekend was the kick-off of the North Dakota State Fair, which is in our town.  My Mother's of Pre-Schoolers (MOPS) group entered a float in the parade.  Ruby, Eli, and I also walked in the parade.

These were taken right before the rain started!

There was a lot of waiting for the parade to begin.  I was so thankful I had left David at home with Dad!

The MOPS theme for 2013- 2014 is A Beautiful Mess!

Our little float queen Avery waved the entire 3 miles!

Because our group had not participated in the parade in a good many years, we had no idea how many people to prepare for.  Because of this, we ran out of candy-- fast!  But Eli decided to start handing out high 5's instead.  I love that kid!

Our MOPS Finance person ended up being the coordinator for our float.  Here she is being interviewed by the local news.

And... there goes the parades!

Cross-country adventure, Day 9 & 10: Father's Day, Camp About Face, and Finally Home

Sunday was Father's Day.  We met Jason's parents in Bloomington for a nice Father's Day lunch and said our good-byes.  After lunch we made a quick stop at another health food store and made our way to Eli's camp.

The Camp About Face check-in process is long and involved, but I savored it as much as possible knowing that I was about to drop off my kiddo and drive 20 hours away!

Here is Eli outside Wade cabin-- with a Nerf gun of course.  I wonder who OK'ed that coming with us?

We left camp about 3:30, but stayed committed to the idea of making it all the way back to Coralville, IA.  I'm glad I made the reservation because otherwise I think I would have tried to talk Jason into stopping a lot sooner!

I offered to drive, especially since it was Father's Day, but this guy was a complete trooper!

We stopped for dinner at the World's Largest Truckstop (aren't you jealous?!).  We had a quick meal at Wendy's and allowed David and Ruby to look around a bit.

Happy Father's Day 2013 Daddy!

On our very first night of the trip we accidentally left David's lovie-- Patch the Sentsy Dog-- at the hotel.  We were hoping this Cookie Monster would soften the blow until Patch could be returned to us.

Day 10 we woke up and said, "Let's just do it!".  We drove from Coralville, IA to Minot, ND-- about 13 hours-- in one day.  By the end we were so exhausted we were slap happy, but we were also so very glad to be home!  Next year I vote we avoid the driving altogether and just get ourselves some of those ruby red slippers like Dorthy had!