4th of July Weekend

We had such a fun long weekend for the 4th of July last week. Ella told me that she "doesn't like holidays that last for only one day" -- lucky for her, we squeezed as much as we possibly could into the weekend.

Ready for camp on July 3rd - she loved the dress she had picked out for 4th of July and had been so looking forward to wearing it

I went to school that morning for her class parade, she was excited to wear the shirt and visor she had painted

Fun with her friends

That night we painted special patriotic nails and toenails

She got a really neat invitation for the morning of 4th of July. Her friend Addison's dad, is a volunteer firefighter for our town, and so they are able to ride on top of the firetruck in our town parade. Addison's older brother was away at sleep away camp for the week, so she invited Ella to come along to take his place. It was last minute and I had already planned to take off Friday instead of Thursday, so Steve took her, and it became a big Daddy / Daughter adventure.

Ready and so excited!

I did manage to drive down to the fire station and got a quick peek of her on the firetruck before the parade began :)

Steve and Hilary did a great job of taking pictures to fill me in on everything I missed

And on top of the truck

After the parade our town has a big festival at one of the parks, with rides and jump houses and water slides. For the big story there, Ella climbed this rock wall, and managed to get all the way to the top. I can barely believe she did it, and Steve couldn't either. 

There was a button you were supposed to push at the top once you made it up and Ella told me she didn't want to move her hands off the rope, so she pushed it with her nose!

On the way back down, the rope somehow malfunctioned and got stuck, and she didn't weigh enough to pull the rope down, so she was just hanging there. Steve says she thought it was great and was just laughing and kept yelling about how she was stuck on the rope. One of our friends was there and he climbed up to where she was and then pulled her down. (They ended up closing down that side of the rock wall after this.) Quite an adventure! 

After the park she went to swim at Addison's house for more fun 

That night we went to our friends' house for a BBQ and to swim

Getting a push from Ellie

 Our town fireworks show is at a park by the junior high, which is in the back of our neighborhood. We all sat outside and watched them from our friend's pool...it was the perfect way to enjoy the fireworks.

On Friday, Ella and I didn't leave the house once. We played in the house all morning and then swam all afternoon. It doesn't happen often, but I love whenever I get days like that - nothing on tap but having fun with my sweet little chum.  

Proud of the play-doh flag she made 

On Saturday we had friends over for a pool party, and Ella had a blast with her buddies

 And then on Sunday, our friends invited us to go out on their boat with them. It was a really overcast day with rain predicted; but fortunately, we avoided the rain and had a wonderful day out on the water.

Ella loved it - she laughed, yelled 'faster, faster', and enjoyed every minute

Some pretty sights from the water

Ready for a swim

We stopped for dinner at Sam's Boat, which I love - and even more fun using the water route!

So cute together

 Such a fun weekend - not remotely productive, but so very worth it!