First Fourth

Elliott had his first Fourth of July last weekend! It was a long, fun weekend full of festivities. For the first time this year, we got the ever-popular Old Navy Flag Shirts, and matched at the parade. Corny, I know- but we'll laugh about it in 15 years.



As always, the highlight of the weekend was the Lebanon parade!



The parade starts with a line of fire engines, and the sirens were worrisome. Grandma covered Elliott's ears, but he still looks concerned.


I took the following picture because I wanted to fact-check the parade float.

FALSE. The first American flag (or, a declaration of the first flag) was created on June 14, 1777. Betsy Ross said she sewed one in May, 1776. "At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, the United States had no official national flag." [source] So. Get your facts straight, Parade Float.

Lots of candy was being thrown, but I'm the Mean Mom who didn't let her kid have any candy. Instead, because it was so hot, I let him chew on a wrapped ice pop.

And, seriously, a sheriff marching in the parade walked up to him and held out a dum-dum lollipop for him to take. Besides the fact that it's hard candy and pure sugar, it the stick's a serious choking hazard for a 6-month-old baby! Maybe next year I'll be a nicer mom. Or, maybe I'll just let him collect candy, and then I'll eat it all.

Elliott's cousin's t-ball team came in first, so he was in the parade, and we waved and cheered.



After the parade, there was a cookout, and swimming, and card-playing, and a nap.



We watched fireworks on the horizon our whole way home. It was a good day.