Hooray for Independence Day!

Since this is our last summer in Columbus I wanted to take advantage of a lot of the 4th of July festivities they have here (we've missed the fun for the past two years!).  I had heard good things about the Hilliard parade and it did not disappoint.  Just about every float, truck or group parading by throws out candy to the kids and so the boys thought they were in heaven.  I was in heaven when they came by with tons of Chik-Fil-A coupons!

Waiting patiently for the parade to start.

One of the groups passed out these American flags and I had previously told the boys if they waved their flags people would give them candy.  They never put the flags down after that, and never stopped waving for that matter.  The weather ended up being pretty nice for that morning also.  It never rained, but stayed cloudy enough that it wasn't too hot outside.

After the parade we met at a friend's house for a yummy BBQ and had fun chatting with friends.

We weren't sure if we would keep the boys up for fireworks (since they didn't start until 9:45), but hey, it's the 4th of July!! You got to see fireworks!!  We met friends again at a park for a late BBQ and let the kids play until the show was ready.  The fireworks were being shot from another park about a mile away, but the view was perfect from where we were.  The boys reaction to the first several fireworks was priceless.  It involved a lot of screaming for joy and giddy laughing.

Ryan and Tate sit back and take it all in.

 Tate was pretty diligent about keeping a hold of his flag for several days after the 4th.  In this picture, he was supposed to either be going to bed or taking a nap (in his crib by the way), but apparently had gotten out to do some reading before he crashed.  But even extreme fatigue cannot break his grip on his patriotic duties. 

This does not have to do with the 4th of July, except for the fact that this crime fighting league tries to preserve freedom, justice and the American way.  Our evenings usually include at least one game of superheros, robots or fighting pillows (we basically get to throw pillows at each other--it's surprisingly fun). 

 

All I can say is watch out Bad Guys, we're coming to get you!!

Fun in DC

 

Way back in June we added a trip to DC as part of our time in VA with my parents.  My parents were extra awesome and watched the kiddies for a couple of days so Ryan and I could head up there by ourselves for a little getaway.  I was fun and nice to be able to sleep in (although it's getting harder to sleep in the more pregnant I get).  We had gone to DC as part of our honeymoon but hadn't been able to go to the Holocaust museum, so that was our main goal this trip.  We ended up spending most of our day there and didn't see much else.  But it was a neat experience and nice not feeling like we had to rush to see everything.

 

On Saturday, my parent's continued their awesomeness by waking up early to drive 2 grumpy boys to meet us at DC.  The plan was to hang out there for a couple of hours and then finish the drive back to Ohio.

I think the boys favorite part of the trip was getting to ride the subway.  Papa did a good job following Tate around and keeping him out of trouble.

We did take the boys to the Natural History and American History museums.  Grant really liked seeing the dinosaurs and animal bones.

 Tate fell asleep on the metro ride back to where we parked.  We let him sleep in the stroller while we ate lunch, but woke him up since we still had a 7 hour car ride ahead of us.  Needless to say he was not too happy.  With two grouchy, tired boys and two grouchy, tired parents, the trip home was one to be remembered.  Overall it was really fun though, really!