Happy Fourth of July!

This weekend marked Holly's very first Independence Day as an American citizen. For some reason, this day seemed more special to me than Christmas, Mother's Day, or any of the other holidays that have come and gone since she has been home. Maybe its the fact that I am so grateful for having her in my life, or maybe its a better appreciation of the day itself. Whatever it is, the day was very fun and special.

Holly and I went to my parents for the weekend. On the Fourth, we got up and went to Sandpoint for the parade. Holly fell asleep in her stroller about 10 minutes before the parade started. Her timing is impeccable! No worries, she woke up when the police car started the parade with lights and sirens blaring. She wasn't super appreciative at the time, but she got into it as the parade went on.
Holly wasn't quite sure what to think about the bagpipers as they went by. Of course, she was fascinated by it all, but those are just darned strange the first time you hear them! The second bagpipe band in the parade was more acceptable to her.
Here she is waving at Smokey the Bear or one of the other great characters in costume during the parade. She can't resist waving and saying hi to everyone she sees these days!
Who knows what she was clapping at because that's what she did most of the parade. Any time one of us clapped, so did Holly. She definitely gets into whatever is going on!
All that waving and clapping wears a girl out! Especially when the parade disturbed her nap to begin with. She may have been glad the whole thing was over because she slept the whole way home and then for a while once we got back, too.
We went to a small, community potluck and fireworks display on the evening of the Fourth. There was a band, lots of delicious food, and a very impressive evening of fireworks when it got dark. Holly danced with all kinds of strangers before having a "healthy" dinner of animal crackers and cheeseburger patty. I don't have any pictures of that evening because I couldn't find my camera in the diaper bag and Mom's camera hadn't been charged for a while. We had front row seats, though, and they must have spent a small fortune on the fireworks. Holly was able to keep her eyes open for about the first 10 minutes of the fireworks, but then conked out in my lap.

When I put Holly in the stroller, and again later into the car seat, she must have been dreaming of all the events of the day because she would barely open her eyes and clap her hands. She would fall back asleep, but still be clapping. Oh, how cute it was!

The great thing about one of the towns near my parents' house is that they do their fireworks display on the Saturday closest to the Fourth, but not on the Fourth. So, on the fifth, we went to Bayview to watch their fireworks, too. I figured that maybe Holly would stay awake for these because we didn't have quite as exciting a day as the day before. Here we are waiting for it to get dark.


Holly waved to all the traffic that went by on the road in front of us, to the people who were sitting nearby, or to anyone else who may or may not be paying any attention to her.
She spent some time running around the grass and horning in on other families' gatherings, especially the ones with kids her age. I have figured out that you meet a lot of people that you otherwise wouldn't when you have a kid like Holly! After running around, Holly exercised her vocal cords by screaming at different pitches and then laughing hysterically at herself. She is such a ham and knows it. I know it looks like she is crying here, but she is having a great time screaming her head off!
Whew! All that running around and screaming wears a girl out. As you can see, it is now dark and time for the fireworks to begin...and Holly has fallen asleep. Before they even started, this time!
My precious girls slept through the entire 40 minutes of fireworks all cuddled up in her stroller. I know she would have loved the fireworks if she had been awake for them...
We both had a great weekend with lots of fun activities. I have some other cute pictures that I will post later and I am going to attempt to upload my first video onto the blog, too! Next Sunday is the Spokane China Families Annual Picnic in Ritzville. Last year I went alone, with only a couple of pictures of Holly in hand. I am looking forward to bringing my little ball of fire with me this year and showing her off to all the great people in that group. I feel so blessed to have groups like this and others. I have made some very close friends who have experienced the road to adoption and know what I mean when I say that Independence Day is special in a way that other holidays aren't. Thank you to all my friends who are taking the same journey and for sharing your lives with Holly and I!