Land of the Free

Happy July 4th (in August) everyone. What a great country we live in . . . even though at times I think it's broken, it is still the way to go. Thank goodness for all of the men and women who serve our country and protect our freedoms: the freedom to practice whatever religion we choose, the freedom to speak our minds without fear of punishment or retribution (lookin' at you Mr. Cathy!), the freedom to petition our government (ok, it's been awhile since I've studied history so I'm running out of amendments), but the point is, we are a free country. And there are men and women who die to protect this freedom. God bless America, please.

We celebrated our independence by riding in the Sullivan's Island parade. We decorated Finn's bike with as much patriotic "flair" as we could find. He really wanted to wear his Captain America mask, but it wouldn't fit under his helmet, a major bummer. So he carried it (left hand). We didn't make it to the finish line, as I suspected we would not, so Mark picked us up on the side and drove us to the finish line. Part of the problem was that people kept throwing candy from their golf cart and Finn kept pulling over to the side, getting off of his bike, getting the candy and eating it. Which added HOURS to our travel time, or so it seemed. Anyway, there were water gun fights, jump castles, cupcakes, watermelon and mimosas at the finish line. A great way to spend the morning. Finn enjoyed riding his bike in the parade, but decided that next year he would rather drive a golf cart.

Captain America

Golf carts lining up

Cyclists waiting for their turn

 After the parade, we hit the beach for some fun in the sun. My parents were in town for the week so it was great to spend the week with them. We had a delicious lowcountry boil for dinner and then watched the fireworks in our front row seat from on top of our deck. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, because I was too busy trying to keep Lily from jumping off of the roof. Girlfriend is NOT a fan of fireworks or any loud banging noises for that matter. It was the perfect way to end a great day.

Our neighbor and friend has a cart and pony that she often takes to birthday parties around the island. She called me up and said she was down the street and would love to bring Duchess down to meet Finn. We were definitely down for that!