Celebrating birthdays!

The kids and I went down to Mt. Pleasant for the 4th. Jason had to work which was a bummer. This was the first long drive with 3 kids by myself. Normally it takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to make it down. 5 hours and 45 minutes later, one seriously stressed out mom and 3 traumatized kids pulled into grandma and grandpa's driveway. I have never wanted out of a car so bad before, and I doubted the kids would ever get back in the car with me again!

The 4th of July in Mt. Pleasant is a jam packed day starting at 6 a.m. with cannons blasting around the town, scaring little kids and adults who are in a deep sleep. Then it's off to a breakfast at the park followed by a parade, where in order to get a spot you have to set up chairs a day in advance. After the parade there are all kinds of games and booths along with a mountain man rendezvous at the park. We then head up to the cabin to enjoy the mountains, have a great meal, visit and play. When it's getting closer to dusk, we head back home and light fireworks and celebrate birthdays. Then we head out to the park again for the city's firework show, except this year it rained so they started the show earlier than normal. We ended up watching from Lori and Troy's front yard. All in all, it was a great day. Here are some pics of the 4th and of Riley's birthday.