The Fourth

LONG OVER DUE POST!!
Most people that know me, know that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday of the year.  Growing in WG, it is the highlight of the summer.  The carnival, parade, BBQ, funnel cakes, fireworks.  As an adult I have grown to appreciate the 4th in even more ways.  I love buying red white and blue outfits for my kids, and I love spending the day with so many friends.

We kicked off the holiday weekend by heading up to the carnival.  
Normally this night is really fun, and we get to see lots of friends, this year was so HOT, we could barley enjoy ourselves.  
We got each of the kids wristbands so they could go on as many rides as they wanted.  

Sonya was dying to ride the ferris wheel, so I went with her and took some "aerial" photos of the carnival.  

The kids rode the cars, boats, went down the tiger slide (the one from last year), the cobra roller coaster, and the carousel.  It is all just kind of a blur because it was so darn hot.  

This is how the kids looked all night

We did find some relief with some snow cones.

We only made it two hours before we were all ready to go home.  

The fourth had much better weather.  

There was a little bit of rain before we went to the parade, but it cooled the day down.  

We sat with friends and family in our usual spot.  

Sonya was so happy to sit with her cousin Stella.

Sweet Stella just turned three.  She is so grown and beautiful.

The past couple of years the Budweiser Clydesdales have been in the parade, and I LOVE them.  

You don't realize how big they until you see them up close.  

I finally got some good shots of them this year.

A few of the others from the parade.

My favorite was the car with the bubble machine.  

All of the kids ran out into the street to play in the bubbles.

I LOVE these photos of Sonya and Teddy.

We ended the day at our friends the Hogans house, I think there were 20 families there with 800 hundred kids running around.  The Hogans have a great trampoline in their backyard, and I have to say Teddy is an awesome jumper.

As the sun went down, we passed out sparklers to all the kids.  

I mean all of the kids, like there was an 18 month old with a sparkler, but I have no photographic evidence.  

I do have some two year olds with fire.

We also set off a few fireworks in the backyard, all of the kids LOVED it.

Teddy would get really scared, and then clap when the fireworks would pop open.

Around 9 pm we walked down to Old Warson Country Club for the fire works.  

My heart does break a bit to not go the WG fireworks, but it is so crazy and crowded.  

Going with up there my little kids sounds pretty terrible, so going to Old Warson works great for our family.

Happy Birthday America, it was a great party.

Our Big Summer...So Far

Popsicles

The Backyard

The Butterfly House

Morning at Laumeier Sculpture Park

World Bird Sanctuary

Sick Kids

The Jumping Pillow

Silver Dollar City

Swimming

Tired Babies

How is your summer?

A Good Meal

On the way home from Branson, I insisted we stop at one of my favorite restaurants

Lambert's Cafe in Ozrak, MO.

Lamberts is like Cracker Barrel on steroids. 

Josh has never been to this Missouri treasure, and I knew he would love it.  

Like the sign says Lambert's is, "home of the throwed rolls."  One of the workers walks out every couple of minutes of yell, "hot rolls," and you raise your arms up in the air and prepare to catch the hot doughy goodness in your hands.  

Lambert's is also known for their "pass arounds."  Pass arounds are basically free food the staff walks around with and pass around to whomever wants them.  Pass arounds include fried okra, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, my personal favorite fried potatoes and onions, and sorghum molasses.  

Funny story about sorghum molasses. 

 One time I was at the Lambert's in Gulf Shores AL with a group of high school girls (there is a Lambert's down there for some reason).  Anyway all these cute little high school girls were sitting at a table and cute guy about their comes around with the sorghum molasses and asks the table of girls if they would like some .

To which one of the girls ( I will keep her identity secret, but many of you know her) answers,

"Sure I will try some of that scrotum."  

Ahhhhh, what?!?

The young man walked away a little embarrassed, and the young lady was clueless to what she had said.

I am sure this is how the young lady felt after her encounter with the server.

Here is the delicious meal I ate fried chicken wings, chunky applesauce, peaches, and pass around potatoes.  

 Now friends, if you were wondering what the secret is to achieve my round and squishy figure, 

here it is. 

When the guy comes around with pass around potatoes and only gives you one scoop you look at him like he is crazy and say this,

"I am not embarrassed or shy, please give me another scoop of those potatoes."

Then clear your plate like this,

and you will be well on your way to a bigger backside.

Don't worry, I know you can do it.