The Fourth.

Happy 4th! As I write this I am crossing my fingers that Charlotte doesn't wake up from another night of fireworks. The city just west of us had theirs on Wednesday night, followed by our city's last night (and all the other neighboring cities, which we could hear). I thought they were all done, but never underestimate the power of a few random people setting off their own legally questionable explosives in their backyards. At midnight.

But more about fireworks later.

We celebrated the 4th with a cookout (where we were actually able to eat outside without stifling heat or rain!). It was small, the food was delicious, and I made a sheet cake using this recipe that was so good there was none left. And while I'd like to say there was none left because we'd invited a dozen guests over that was most certainly not the case. We had five people over. Judge all you want, that cake was delicious.

So was the rest of the food. I love summer food.

My girl wore her red, white and blue dress that I made her a few weeks ago. I used the Summer Picnic Dress pattern that was available as a free download and tutorial, courtesy of Lindsay at The Cottage Home. I love how fun it was to make and it fits her perfectly!

So on to the fireworks. She had been asleep for a couple hours before they started, then about 2.5 minutes in she woke up. We ended up bringing her downstairs to sit on the porch and watch them, since we knew she'd be awake anyway.

Turns out she liked what she saw, and asked to walk closer. So we walked to the end of the street to get a better look. Her little finger pointed down the road, toward the beach (where they were shooting them off) and said "Closer please?" So we ended up walking all the way down there in the dark to watch the whole show. It was wonderful, and the first fireworks show we've gotten to see since 2010.

Then on Friday we went to a little carnival that our city has every year over 4th of July weekend. We weren't sure if Charlotte would be interested in any rides or not, but turns out she was VERY interested. She rode on the "fire truck choo choo train" no less than three times.

We finally talked her off the trucks by pointing out the big slide. As we walked closer to this big slide, however, I realized how big it truly was. But anyone who has ever promised a two year old something knows that you can't un-promise them anything without a major problem. So we had her watch other kids slide down and asked her if she was sure she wanted to ride on it with Daddy, which she emphatically nodded "yes".

Daredevil. She held on tight to Chad's arms and said "wheee!" the whole way down.

Having the 4th on a Thursday tricked me into thinking the weekend already happened. Not so, friends. Have a great weekend!

~Stacy