Happy 4th of July!

We loved our 4th of July! We celebrated it here at home and loved every minute of it...just good times! Our day started off with the Seaside 4th of July parade. It was perfect! Philip parked his truck at the end of our road so we could just sit in the back end with the tailgate up for William. This was wonderful! William was in heaven watching all the excitement go by. He waved to everyone. He danced to the music. He tried to catch all the "goodies" being tossed around. He was just precious. Philip and I just sat back and enjoyed.

After the parade, we headed on down to the beach to soak up some sun. William loves loves loves the beach. He knows just when we turn into the parking area. He so proudly carries his bucket down the ramp and walks right through the sand. He will patiently wait as I put our stuff down, apply his "sunseen" as he call it, and then it's off to the water with his bucket. He is so happy just scooping up water and carrying it around somewhere to dump. He will sit and shovel sand into his bucket for a while too. He loves to have Mommy or Daddy help with both events. Sometimes he wants to get in the water and kick-kick and "siim"(swim). He's a beach baby for sure. I don't mind at all being covered in sand if it means my baby is happy and having fun. I don't mind for one minute having to get up and go just sit-sit in the sand so he can dump water on my feet. I love it when he grabs handfuls of sand and rubs it on my back---hey, it's like a mini-spa treatment! I love being at the beach with William---just perfect!

While we were out there playing around, I looked up and one of my dear friends was walking by. I called out her name and she waved, then saw William and realized it was me. It was great getting to catch up with Sadie. By this point W was ready for his nap, so Philip said for me to just head back down the way with Sadie for a while and that he would take William home for a nap. How sweet~~ I spent a few hours just hanging out with Sadie and catching up while William slept peacefully at home and Philip flopped on the couch watching the History Channel! Old friends are great! I love how you can just pick right back up where you left off~~

Later that afternoon I walked on back home and got cleaned up and got everyone ready to go to the Strayhan's for their 4th of July bash. Lee's mom Janie had everyone over to her house for a cookout and fireworks. It was great! William fell in LOVE with the playhouse under her beach house. Basically Philip and I alternated who would stay down below with William and who would stay up with the other adults! It was fun. At points we could get William go up and find Mr. Bill Slavins who introduced William to M&M's! It was just adorable how William would find him and start asking for "peece" and Mr. Bill would hand him a handful of M&M's! We enjoyed the party. Jessica and Jim were there with baby Olivia. Mr. Bill and Mrs. Laura (her parent's) were there. Abby stopped by for a little while. Lee and Cameron and one of their daughter's were there, along with some neighbors. I enjoyed getting to visit with Cameron. By the time the fireworks started, I had already given William a bath (see pictures). The fireworks were great! We could see from Sandestin to Seaside..and maybe a bit beyond. William loved the fireworks again! Last year, they actually put him to sleep!

It was a great day! I was so happy to know that all across America family and friends were gathering together to celebrate America. Everything seemed so peaceful and happy. I found myself thinking of the families of the troops who are still serving...My heart was full of compassion for the troops, both past and present. Thank you to all who served, who are serving and who will one day serve this great country!

Hope you had a great 4th of July. Take time to remember what it means to you...