star & stripes forever! and ever....and ever...

we had our choice of hats. we had our choice of flags and wands. we had on our clothes of red, white and blue. we had on patriotic flip flops. we had the dog. even the dog had a flag collar and flag leash of old glory itself. we had an empty bag for collecting candy. and for the first time, we had arrived early for lattimore's fourth of july parade. but before we left, we had a great time!

our fourth of july weekend had officially begun on an old small town main street, sandwiched between old storefronts, depots, gazebos, a memorial garden, restored caboose and train tracks. for the first few quiet minutes, you could imagine yourself back in time, in the days of black and white tv shows, icebox refrigerators, golly-geepers, kids riding in the streets and rotary bike bells, local appliance stores and drug counters with soda fountains....."oh? what was that? the roar of the local mustang car club revving there engines in the parade line two miles away?" welcome back to july 3rd, 2010.

the parade route isn't long, but it isn't fast either. you wait just as long for it to get to you as the parade is long itself. but i remind the kids, "if you wear your hats and wave your flags...you'll get more candy!" wrong, i know. i shouldn't teach them that they'll get more in life the cuter you are. but how else do you expect me to get those good pictures? and you will see it is definitely getting more difficult the older they get. blurs. frowns. pops on the head from the other. retaliation hits. pulling hair. who wants to see pictures of that? now do you doubt me?

so here it is: my first installment of independence day 2010 entries. hope your celebration was just as fun and candy-filled as ours! (by the way.....i was right about the candy thing.)

dressed & ready - waiting on for the parade:

come on! we're down here:

davis is done. time to tag along with the firemen:

i jump for candy!:

playing in the caboose:

team stripes: