Small town Fourth of July

For the past five years we have celebrated the Fourth in our small town's parade. It is one of the very enjoyable things about a small town, although the town is growing very quickly and the celebration gets bigger and bigger every year...

The kids decorate their bikes and ride a few blocks from Mr. Jim's Pizza to the Haslet park. Maddie was so excited this year to have her big beach cruiser; we could barely fit in the car, but with her incredible determination and positive outlook, she thought up a plan that worked and we got it there sans truck!

Here are the kids with friends from our church and town. I think the Wildes (in car and w/ blue balloon) have been in this parade for the past 5 years with us! New friends, the Johansons, joined us for their first parade as new to town.

Our kids were first in the long line of kids riding bikes this year (following all the fire trucks, church floats, and old fashioned cars). Ted was really wishing he had his own "General Lee" (Dukes of Hazzard) to ride around in the parade...he did find his "inner redneck" later on as you'll see in the photos to come--

More of our wonderous neighborhood/church buddies, the Johnstons and the Smiths.

And here are some dear friends and cute chicks: Tasha and Maegan. I love these two and appreciate their friendship and the fact that they live so close to me!

What would a 100 degree parade march be without snow cones??! So then we get to the evenings festivities. We stayed inside all day because is was SO HOT! The kids and Ted played the Wii for about 2-3 hours which is probably a record. Our summer has been busy so far, so they have rarely played. Ted was thrilled with the chance to be a couch potato and the kids were equally excited to beat him at all their games.

I went to work making the BEST homemade brownies (rich and fudgy) and a cinnamon apple cobbler. Quite delish! Our friends, the Watsons, brought us a jar of homemade salsa which was a real treat! Nice holiday gift!

Then two families that we knew in New Hampshire (who now live here within about 10-15 miles of us) came over for dinner and fireworks. All the men work at Fidelity Investments which is what brought us all here to this part of Texas.

The guy below walked in our front door in a ghetto "Rednecks Rule" baseball hat with mullet attached...we were cracking up! Ted was inspired; Nick laughed as he and this guy have joked since Nick was 4 years old about mullets...

Ted had to go find his mullet wig, Freedom Bandana, and his Witness Protection Program T-shirt (he always jokes about getting into the WPP).

Sparklers, of course...

The Watsons and the Olsons. We have a great time reminiscing with these families and a lot of laughs due to the great combined humor of the 3 men in this photo. We are glad they live by us and remember us back when Maddie was a baby (and later Nick when he came along; he was born in NH). Old friends are fun to have near! We look forward to more holidays away from home (when all of us are in TX we are without relatives nearby) with these friends from our old "home" in NH.

Watching our small-time fireworks was a bit scary for our friends' little kids, but the later show put on by our subdivision was fabulous! Huge, bright fireworks for about 15 minutes, once it got dark. And all from the comfort of our front yard. Now that is a great Fourth: good food, good friends, no crowds, no driving, no traffic coming home. Ahhhhh.

Come on back, now, ya hear--

(isn't that the final line of all the Dukes of Hazzard episodes?)

see you next year!

~ Ted, a/k/a Ricky Joe, and Ryan, Lee Wayne