July 4th

As Laura isn't feeling too well, I figured I better man-up and do some blogging myself. Luckily, this shouldn't be too difficult as Idaho Falls really knows how to put on a party, otherwise known as the Freedom Festival. On Friday, we spent the morning at the city parade which happens to pass by just 2 blocks from us. Jessica had a great time, especially with the view she had perched atop her grandpa.

The parades was...well, a parade - a few politicians, church groups, and high school cheerleaders, drama teams, and bands. Jessica had fun and when it got too hot, grandpa was nice enough to get some Hawaiian shaved ice, which Jessica devoured. This just happened to be a pretty funny picture with Jessica looking rather sassy.

I showed her this picture and she started laughing as she said, "I'm so messy!" Cute kid. Well after the parade, we headed back home and since it was still so hot, we let Jessica run around in the sprinklers which she absolutely loves.

We considered taking Jessica to the fireworks Friday night, but it was just too late for her after all the festivities of the day. It doesn't even get dark until 10pm and she was out cold by 7:30. Maybe next year. So we got a little firework to light off for her before bed. It was supposed to be a silent little guy, but we were surprised when the dang thing started screaming like a scared deacon. I have some video of it, but it seems to be a little too large for the blog. When we got back inside, Jessica was still a little shaken and this is the response I got to my dumb question.





That night, Laura and I headed down to the river with her brother Bobby and his wife Susan for the "biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi" (or so they say). It was fun and I even got some video of the finale.





We all had a great weekend. Unfortunately, Jessica's cousin Alice had to leave on Saturday morning. After they left, Jessica just stayed by the window saying that she wanted Alice to come back. I tried consoling her by saying that this next week she'll be able to play with her cousins Emma and Tyler. Now she walks around the house looking for them. She'll be very excited to see them at our reunion next weekend in Reno.


Here's one last picture of Jessica and Alice. They had a great time together and Jessica loved actually being the "big kid." It was cute how she'd pull Alice around with her and how Alice would pick up some things Jessica would do. She'll be very missed.