4th of july extravaganza

July 4, 2010- The children's parade in Fredericksburg was first on our agenda for July 4th.  Each year Casey tries to out do himself in building an entry for Pecos.  Remember the rocket horse last year?  This year it was a double challenge to try and figure out how to incorporate Brazos.  And of course if it doesn't involve a horse, saddle, rope or all three then Pecos just isn't that interested. So Casey spent all day and night working on this...

The quest for an award at the parade all started out 4 years ago when Pecos was not quite one year old and we decorated his stroller and went to the parade.  Pecos won the award for 'Mr. 4th of July'.  It was a much smaller parade then and not many "float" type entries; mostly bicycles, strollers, and wagons.  Now there are over 100 kids and all sorts of interesting entries.  And Casey's competitive spirit just won't let him simply decorate the wagon and have fun.

Last year Pecos won the award for 'funniest' and Casey thought that wasn't appropriate.  I on the other hand thought it was fine and Pecos of course was just happy to sit on the saddle of his rocket horse and enjoy himself.  Two years ago we skipped the parade because we were vacationing in Maine and I'm sure if we could have found a children's parade there he would have come up with something for it.

Casey was on a mission this year to win back the title of 'Mr. 4th of July'.  I'm not sure why he thought this particular idea would do it because I thought we'd be back in the running for funniest again.  The judges and Casey must have had the same idea because sure enough, Pecos won 'Mr. 4th of July'. 

Brazos should have received recognition for the youngest participant because there were certainly none younger.  However, you could hardly see him inside the covered wagon.  When I asked Casey why he didn't make the ends of the wagon a little more upright rather than angled out he said he just couldn't compromise the integrity of the wagon!  Would someone associated with this parade please encourage the organizers to either do away with the awards or give more of them- I'm not sure how many more years I can stand this!

Here's Mr. 4th of July getting ready for the parade and posing for about the 100th photo within 5 minutes. 

Following all that excitement we spent the afternoon at home and then headed back in to Fredericksburg to see the fireworks.  Brazos fell asleep before it all started so he missed out on his first fireworks display...maybe next year!