Parade Picture Palooza!

Thanks to his preschool, Silas got the chance to show off his tricked-out bike at the 4th of July parade yesterday. I walked with him, and D took lots of pictures...

Getting ready, along with the other preschool families:

The anticipation is mounting!


And we're off!
As nervous as he was before the parade began, it wasn't long before he started hamming it up for the parade-goers.
According to their website, this is the longest continuously running parade west of the Mississippi. So there you have it, we're part of history :)
This was my favorite float. I had to include some shots of the circus troop. They were awesome!
Check out the bearded "lady." The parasol was a nice touch.
Loved the mustached strong (mini) men with dumb bells.
The weather was PERFECT and our day was delightful. Hope yours was too!

The 4th and beyond

The Island has a pretty big to-do on the 4th of July -- lots of food, booths, kids activities, music, etc. It's pretty much an all out festival, complete with a dunk tank, giant inflatable castles, and a parade which features a library staff book-cart drill team.

Silas got to blow bubbles:
He made a flag shaker at the Library's children's fair:

And most significantly, he got to ride a pony for the first time.! He played it pretty cool while he was riding, but he has mentioned it several times since, so I think he thoroughly enjoyed it. Now when we walk up the hill by our house to see the horses and he says "I ride them sometimes!" we can say, "that's true, Silas!" (sort of).When we arrived home from the events on the 4th, we found some balloons waiting for Silas on our front porch, courtesy of Patrick. That boy loves his balloons! They floated around the house for about 5 days and I was really surprised they hadn't deflated and sank to the floor. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago, Silas came running to me with tears in his eyes saying "I popped them away!" What he actually meant was that, despite our warnings, he'd brought them out onto the deck and let them go. I ran outside, but they were already at the treeline, and still rising. Bye-bye balloons. Thanks for staying as long as you did.
For those of you who don't know, I usually take a good chunk of my vacation time in July, so I'm off of work this month from July 2nd till the 27th. That means I've been doing lots of extra activities with Silas, like going to a children's play (the Emporer's New Clothes) last Tuesday, which was part of the library's summer reading program. Wednesday was our wedding anniversary and I wanted to go hiking, but it was quite overcast and rain threatened, so the three of us headed up to Port Townsend for the day instead and will save the hike for another time in the very near future. Last night, Patrick hung out with Silas so Drew and I could go out to dinner, which was lovely.

And that's pretty much the update. I am rarely on the computer and can't even remember when I last checked my email. It's been nice to take a break since I stare at a screen all week long when I'm working. But, I will try to post again sometime soon.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer!

The 4th

On the 4th of July, we went to Seattle with Patrick to visit friends (Hi M, A, & I). I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera, so I couldn't take many pictures. I have just a couple for you:We had a good old-fashioned meatless barbecue :) Yum! Silas helped us cook. After eating, we headed out to a park:
Silas met a new friend, played in the sand, and rode this whirly ride. Note that Drew is riding with him instead of me. I call this the "Flashback-to-Morning Sickness-Ride." I was more than happy to watch from the sidelines, though even watching them spin did trigger a wee bit of motion sickness. Silas seemed to love it.

We had a great day in Seattle, and were home in time to see Mr. Bear off to bed at his usual time. No fireworks for him (recall his fear of sudden loud noises). I was very thankful that he slept through them.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, keeping in mind that our sole car was out of commission. In fact, Drew is at the dealership now getting it fixed. Let's hope it doesn't take too long!