July 4th Week

BE WARNED! There are a tons of photos here.... I think the most I have ever posted.
After Brianhead we went up to Provo to be with my family for the week of the 4th. I grew up on Center Street in Provo so I have a big love for fun and festivity this holiday. The city parade went right in front of my house so we were always up late (usually all night) and playing well into the next day. We don't live there anymore but I still like to share it with the kids so I love going back home for this holiday. It is beautiful there in the summer and the weather was perfect. Great evening breezes and perfect sunny days. It may be a little hot for some, but coming from Las Vegas is a nice change. Besides, summer is about sweating a little anyway so the sno cones taste that much better.
We tried to plan some fun things with the kids to break up some of the long days.
My brother, Marty, married the most awesome girl, Jess. She is so cool and fun and has a great family. Her older sister is my age (same grade in H.S.) and we tried to do some things together since Jess' family was also in town all week.
On Tuesday we met up at Boondocks and introduced the kids to the short sighted "token" consumerism. We rode on water boats and soaked each other, rode in the small race cars, played mini golf, climbed in their huge jungle gym, got in some Air Hockey and then blew all our tokens on lame video games that spat out hoards of tickets which redeemed very small, insignificant prizes. It was great fun. The mini golf was hilarious to watch. The kids adapted more of a sweeping hockey technique which worked horribly. Needless to say the heat did not really help with the frustration and they had a few emotional break downs on the green. Luckily we went inside after that, where shortly after I found Scott and Chris playing a very competitive game of air hockey. I got cocky watching them and challenged Scott to a game which ended really fast... I think he beat me by more than 5 points. Erg!
That night we attended Julia's Thrillionaires performance. VERY funny. She is so talented and I could never do it--- just stand up there and be funny for an hour, making up stories as you go. Talk about anxiety.... but it's no big deal to her as she does this on a daily basis for us, so... it was great! (She's the hot blond, btw- Yeah... try growing up next to that. Not that I have a complex or anything....)
By Friday we had filled most of our week with the park, errands, etc. all in preparation for the big day. Late Thursday night Scott, Richard and I drove down town to the parade route and rode our fixed bikes along the streets overflowing with people saving spots. The energy down there is so fun! There are people EVERYWHERE and it's such a fun summer atmosphere. We cruised over to a family's home that we knew growing up and visited with them for a while. They have a cool tradition on every 3rd of July where they project movies on the side of their house late into the night (well, into the wee hours of the morning). It was fun to catch up with them. We were probably out until 12:30am before we headed home. We didn't get to bed until after 1am.
Then at 4:15 am my alarm went off and I stumbled out of bed (yes, only three hours later) to go pick up my brother and save a spot for the parade. Usually Jess' family gets our spot every year but I felt like we need to have a turn so Marty was my partner in fatigued service and we got down there and snagged a great place. Then back home to wake Scott and the kids and head to the Balloons! Always so big, colorful and fun. We barely made it before they took off but it was fun to walk around the field and watch them go up. The kids love it. Then back home to get ready for the parade. I have to admit that by now I was running on fumes and getting a little light headed from my lack of sleep and nutrition there of...and with some other setbacks we didn't even make it to the parade this year, but every one else went and said our spot was tops so it paid off. Yeay!
Jess' family invited ours to her home for a big BBQ lunch a couple of years ago and it's kind of become a tradition now to spend the afternoon swimming at their house and enjoying each other. They are seriously so fun and this year was no different.
Last year they had one of these little cars laying around and by the end of the afternoon, the boys were placing record times on a lap around the pool on it. There were some serious injuries from the competition! I think Marty rubbed the skin completely off his knees.
So this year they not only had another car (the last one broke), they had TWO! After eating a delicious lunch of way too much food, strawberry shortcakes and sno cones, the races began. First Marty started off the races with an introductory lap complete with a flag sticking out of his hiney. Chris even set up some Chariots of Fire tunage to set the mood. Jess, your family is so fun. Thanks for hosting us every year. It's make the 4th so fun!
By the end of that afternoon we were all so tired so we ditched our plans of driving to PG to watch fireworks (Sorry again, Juls & Cody!) and just went down to the school with Marty and Jess and did some fireworks and sparklers with the kids. All in all, it was a great day!