Fourth of July Shenanigans

Fourth of July is a BIG deal to me. It has forever been my favorite holiday, and I have so many fun memories with my cousins and family at my grandparents’ lake house. This year’s Fourth of July was especially special for a couple reasons: 1) it was my first Fourth of July as a “Blanchard” and not a “Ness”, 2) my parents just bought their own lake lot, and 3) we now had Lily Noelle! Because the Fourth of July landed on a Friday this past year, we were able to travel to the lake on Wednesday night after we were done with work. Andrew and I were so excited for a long weekend away, and Lily Noelle was too! Lily was SO excited in fact, she fell asleep and slept the entire way to the lake.

Too much excitement and anticipation for LilyBear

Lily woke up and decided Dad needed some help driving! 

This was Lily’s second time being up at the lake, and she didn't waste any time re-exploring the woods and running all over kingdom come. J Fourth of July involves many family traditions including a Fourth of July boat parade (and competition for best dressed boat!), tubing, eating LOTS of food, playing games and of course, watching fireworks in the middle of the lake! I was so excited to share all of these traditions with Andrew and Lily! We dressed up in our red, white, and blue garb for the parade:

Lily and Daddy :)

Family Photo

Say cheese!

We played a little bean bag toss. Lily tried to help "retrieve" the thrown bean bags...  She was kind of confused on the purpose of the hole, but oh well, at least she’s cute!

"I can help!"

Peek-a-boo! 

"I didn't help...."

And finally, we went out on the boat and watched fireworks. However, Lily apparently had SO much fun during the day that she fell asleep again and slept through the entire show! (Andrew and I were actually happy that she was asleep. We thought the loud booms of the fireworks would scare Lily, but they didn’t even phase her!)

Slept through all of the fireworks

After five days of fun, family, and fireworks, it was time to head home. We were all exhausted, but Lily Noelle seemed ready to get a head start on recovering from all the fun:

Sleeping Beauty at it again :)

    

She can sleep anywhere, I swear.

Yep, she's still sleeping....