4th of July Weekend

PART 1


Our, well my, weekend started bright and early. I was up before 5 am on Friday for my EZ8 running boot camp. We meet MWF at 5:30 am! Luckily 3 of us carpool or I would be sleeping in. This morning we met at Flo Jo to run the lake.It's 3.1 miles around. And it's up and down hills too. That would be Lake Mission Viejo. I can do the lake but I always stop and walk at certain parts. This time I was determined to run it all the way. And I did! Julie and I agree that it is better to run in packs than solo. Although there were times when we did loop (front of the group loops to the back of the group) and I would walk some of these.


Home to walk the dog, shower and get ready to head to the Reynolds for breakfast and the Lake Forest parade. Evelyn spent the night there. Tom wanted to sleep in (he is up early just about every day) so Greg and I packed up the car, parked as close to the parade route as we could, loaded up our wagon, dodged the folks walking or slow jogging the 5K route and finished our walk to the Reynolds. I did a lot of walking this day! We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in their back yard then took a short walk to the parade route. Thankfully Diane had put out blankets early in the morning so we had a nice shady spot for the parade.


Every year I say I am not going to take pictures at the parade, but I always do. Same things each year. But this year not as many.

Here are the kids. Greg. Evelyn. Marissa. And Chance, he's a cute little dog who loves to lick Greg's hands.
The police always start off the parade. My favorite are the horses.
The fire trucks usually follow the police. This is a truck from the Lake Forest station.
This is Freddy. He's a cute remote controlled fire truck. He even squirt water at people and did wheelies. This is the first time I have seen this guy in the parade.
There are always a lot of bands in the parade. Church bands, marching bands and just regular bands. This year there seemed to be a lot of "old fart bands". This guy was riding his skate board, playing guitar and singing! This band was not too bad.
We didn't have a parade program this year so I am not sure who this group is, but they were dressed in Colonial wear playing drums and the flute. I like these costumes!

This guy is always in the parade and one of my favorites. I love this motorized plane with snoopy in the front. His picture was even in the paper.
A lot of churches are in the parade. Here is ours. Santiago de Compostela. In the photo below you will see some of the youth music group members and our music director, Vanessa. She is the one waving her arms.

Waste Management, our trash company, always has an entry. A nice clean trash truck and the trash can drill team. Some time they do dances with the trash cans. Clean ones of course.
Elvis was a new entry this year. He was going a pretty good job singing Elvis songs.
Here are some of the Rivera Riders, where Evelyn rides. Evelyn was so excited to see them. Taylor and Nicole spotted Evelyn sitting along the curb and called and waved to her.
Did you know that my car is in the parade every year? Unfortunately I don't get to drive it in the parade but I always get a picture of it. Ok, this really isn't my car but I can dream. I really really want this Chevy surf wagon. I just love them. When Evelyn gets her license, my plan is to give her my car and get me one of these! Can't you just see me driving around in one of these? I sure can!
Pirates for Hire. Arghhh! They look so like real pirates. Even a great Jack Sparrow look a like. Even sounded like him. Wonder if it was really Johnny Dep in our parade? Nah.
Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, that is what I truly want to be-e-e. Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, everyone would be in love with me-e-e! This was the first time I have seen this one in our parade. I wanted to ride inside. The seats looked like hot dogs and the Oscar Mayer theme song was playing. Fun!
Can't have a parade without the US Marines and their big ol' trucks. I think those tires were bigger than Greg.
This was a new one too. This dad dressed like Fred Flintstone and decked out his convertible beemer to look like the Flintstone car. All he needed were feet peddling the car. Even had a bumper sticker that read" My other car is a dinosaur"
The fire brigade complete with these beautiful horses and men dressed like authentic firemen from the early days of the fire department. The fire stations were actually called fire barns as the horses stayed there too. (trivia info thanks to DD)
We always see so many people we know at the parade and in the parade. Here is cousin Sam on her roller skates. She used to swim with the Lake Forest Dolphin swim team and now she coaches.
If I can't get my surf wagon, I wouldn't mind this car. Maybe not purple, but it will do.

After the parade, we headed back to the Reynolds, cooled down a bit and then the kids and I began to short walk back to the car. We chilled out at home for awhile and then took off to see Indiana Jones. It was good and the kids really liked it too. I have to admit, I did fall asleep for a little bit. But it was because I was so tired, not because I was bored. It was nice to be in a cool movie theater and not out in the heat of the day.

Before we left for the movie, Evelyn and I tried getting a picture of us in our matching shirts. Well, our attempts were not working so Tom snapped this picture of us. Besides going to the parade every year, we also get new t shirts for the 4th. Evelyn thought it was cool that ours matched.

I can't leave out our 4 legged furry family member, Kaydee, aka K dog. Here she is at her gate watching her own parade. Or waiting for her own parade. This is one of her favorite places to lay and keep an eye out for what is happening outside of her gate. Notice, I keep saying her gate. She guards her gate and she is good at it too. She loves to lay there with her chin rested on the bottom of the gate and her feet stuck out under the gate. I was finally able to get this picture of her before she noticed me and jumped up to greet me.
The rest of our day was up in the air until we confirmed what time we had to be in Chino Hills Saturday for the baseball tournament. As our game time did not change, we decided to stay close to home and accepted the Strauss' invite for dinner. We had several this year and Greg wanted to see one of his friends and I wanted to be home early as I was tired. We had a great bbq, fruit and yummy home made ice cream sandwiches for dinner. Thank you Strauss Hauss.

We had to drag the kids away to get home for fireworks. As we drove over Vista Del Lago, it was already packed. It's a great place to go to watch fire works. Not only can you see them from our lake, but other cities as well.

The kids and Tom climbed up onto the roof to watch the fire works from the lake. I stayed grounded and sat in a chair. We could see most of the fireworks over the hill. They were spectacular as usual.

I had to play the part of the mean mom and get the kids into bed. We had a busy weekend ahead of us and I needed to get some sleep.

Stay tuned for more weekend updates. It's too much to put in one blog post!

Hope you all had a great 4th!!