Happy 4th of July!

Since we have had kids, we have really enjoyed the 4th! We have been to the Creswell parade 4 of the 5 years we have lived here and loved it every time! Last year we decided to check out Sweet Home for the evening and found that Lebanon had fireworks, so we watched them there. This year we checked into a bit more and found out Cheadle Lake, in Lebanon, has a kids fair and then the fireworks, so we tried it. We were so glad that we stayed for the fireworks! What an awesome day!

We started our 4th this year with Mitch's inaugural Butte to Butte 10k. He did great, of course, and had an average of 6:55 splits - way to go, babe!

 One of my favorite parts of the parade is the fighter jet flight over (however, we saw them leaving as we were parking and we were there early?)...kind of a bummer, but before the parade starts, these planes do a few fly overs and we really enjoy watching them!

 The cub scouts were at the beginning of the parade. They carried a flag and had everyone pledge allegiance. This was Austynn putting her hand over her heart :)

 Our most favorite part of the parade is watching the kids enjoy it and enjoy getting the candy! They were totally into getting the candy and were old enough this year to get it by themselves. Such fun!

 We planned to come home and take naps before heading North, but kids all fell asleep before we made it home, so we let them sleep in the car while I packed stuff up for the evening. The farm lands just north on Eugene and on the roads into Lebanon/Sweet Home are soooo beautiful this time of year - especially when the sun is shining!

 We took the Lebanon exit, hoping to eat at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants - Ixtapa - but it was closed!! Bummer! Lots of restaurants were, so we settled on some very mediocre Mexican. After eating, we headed to Sweet Home and our first stop was the fish hatchery. Mitch took the kids out to check out the fish, while I stayed behind and rested a bit. They got to feed the fish and the camp host showed them an osprey nest - the mom was sitting on the nest w her eggs, while the dad was out fishing (good spot!).

 Foster Dam above and the Santiam River below (w the osprey nest)

 We then drove by and reminisced about Artie's and Grami and Papa's houses. Both look good. Still feels like we should be able to knock on the door and surprise Artie Mae! 

Then we arrived at the festival and the kids were ready to go! They had it set up so well and it wasn't too crowded - just perfect!

 A couple cute pics of Carson and Austynn enjoying each other. Kiddos, we do hope that you all enjoy the closeness of your ages! It is so fun to watch you interact, when it is positive :)

 They had a neat craft area set up where Carson and Austynn made flags, and Paislee made a butterfly pin.

 Even this adorable obstacle course, where they timed each kid that completed it, gave them a medal, and put the time/age/name on a white board. Impressive! Austynn led the charge!!

 Awesome work on this beautiful evening shot, babe!

 Thankfully, I brought the towels Mimi made, bc I didn't bring any blankets and it was getting chilly. Before the fireworks, the kids got their jammies on and daddy got us dinner. They had an espresso cart (I need to do this!), so I had a yummy caramel latte! Dad got us a couple hotdogs, nachos, pop, and two frozen shaved ices. It was so good. This was just the perfect end to the evening. Kids were tired enough to actually chill (amazing!). We watched all the fireworks like this, with Mitch behind me and the kids cuddled up, leaning on me. The fireworks were the best we have seen as they were right above us! We were so happy that we stayed! What an awesome day!