July 4th

It is a family tradition to spend July 4th down at Land's End on the river.  We have done this since I was a teenager and this year was no exception.  We got in late Friday night and were all up early Saturday morning in time to enter the kids in the parade.  The theme this year was "Things To Do At Land's End".  We decided to incorporate Land's End church, the ocean, and the beach.  Our entry was titled Salvation, Sand, and Sea.  Mom did most of the decorating since we did not get in until after midnight the night before the parade.

Noah was the salvation part of our entry.  We attached a Bible to his bike along with sign that read "Jesus is my best friend...Come to church when at Land's End!"

Micah was the sea in our entry.  He rode in a wagon covered in blue and he threw out water balloons.  Jonah was the sand.  He rode in a wagon with a sand castle and he was the one that got to throw candy to the crowds.

The "older generation" (Mom, Mr. Jimmie, and Granny Faye) watched from the sidelines.

After the parade, we sat around waiting for the winners to be announced.  The boys won 2nd place this year!

After the parade was  over, Joe and I left the napping boys with my Mom and we headed into Beaufort to do a little car shopping.  It was not until we were in the middle of the dealership that I remembered that we had all worn matching outfits for the parade and had neglected to change before going shopping.  I felt like such a dork!!!

Sunday Morning we all got up and went to church on the water.  It was a beautiful service and they had over 200 in attendance.

The rest of Sunday was spent playing on the beach and in the water waiting on the fireworks to start that night.

Noah, Jonah, Micah, and friend Brianna had a blast playing together.

Now that Micah is FINALLY walking, he too had a blast in the sand and surf!

All in all it was a great weekend.  We had perfect weather, good food, and lots of fellowship.  However, that pesky dark cloud even found us on our mini vacation.  On the way back from fireworks last night, Noah tripped over a tree root (while barefoot) and I think he may have broken a little bone in his foot.  Not only that, but after he went to sleep, he fell off of the top bunk.  He is now sporting a huge bruise across his back from the landing.  Hopefully his foot looks better in the morning and we will not be headed in to get an x-ray.  We have been enjoying the sun shine too much to let that dark cloud come back!