fun on the 4th

July 4, 2009- It was a marathon day full of fun. First up was the kid's parade around Marketplatz in Fredericksburg. Casey should win Father of the Year for the amazing rocket he built for Pecos' parade entry. Pecos was so proud of his rocket horse...just call him Space Cowboy. Pecos won the award for Most Humorous entry and he was by far the crowd favorite but there wasn't an award for that. Of course our opinion of his entry is just a little biased. I provided the pull power during the parade. Next up was stick horse races in Doss. Pecos has been practicing for several weeks now. Sometimes he practices with his buddy Jace but other times he practices alone. Like the day before the race when he was practicing in the house with his jockey goggles. We told him all race horse jockeys need to wear goggles in a race; he thought they should also be worn for this particular practice session.

At some point Casey decided to get in on the racing action. But he didn't have jockey goggles so his old chem lab turned power tool safety goggles had to do. Notice these two jockeys ready to run and gritting their teeth for the starting bell.

Once we got to the derby he realized the other jockeys would not be donning the eye gear so he let me hold them while he raced sans goggles. There were no other 2 year-olds at the races so Pecos went up against the big kids- 4, 5 and 6 year-olds- and had fun. I don't think he minded coming in third but he was a little upset that the big race we'd been talking about for days and practicing for was only one short sprint down the track. So we let him take a few solo sprints when the race track was cleared.Finally we made it home to grill some burgers and light a few fireworks. Pecos loved the roman candles and was so excited about his "firework chickens." But it was all over when we lit our final one and it made an awful shrieking and whistling sound. It hurt my ears too! So we called it quits for the day. Happy Birthday America!!