4th of July 2012

My mom's side of the family does a 4th of July picnic/reunion every year in honor of my great grandpa's birthday. It is a great reason to get together with the extended family and catch up. We did not anticipate getting to go this year but we were back in Kansas because my sister's wedding was just a few days after the 4th. We were very excited to get to go!

So, we packed the boys into the car (my mom graciously let us take over her car for the week and a half we were there) and headed from Topeka to the southern outskirts of Kansas City for the big 4th of July picnic.

We aren't big into fireworks but I do like to let Garytt do the little poppers and small fireworks. So, we stopped at a fireworks tent on the way. Garytt got to hold the basket with all the goodies.







He even put his basket up on the counter for check-out.



The best part about this particular fireworks stand is that they were having free camel rides! Ok, yes, it is totally random and doesn't seem to really go with the 4th of July thing...but it was fun for Garytt...and did I mention FREE?!













Ok, so like I said, that was really a random thing to do on the 4th of July but it was entertaining.

It was great to see everyone at the picnic but I did a terrible job of taking pictures of everyone. I did take pictures of Garytt and Gavin, who is about 5 months older than Garytt. They took a little while to warm up to each other and then they were good. They even sat together for a picture. Don't they look like they could get into trouble together?





After the picture, Garytt and Gavin went back to playing with the basketball...but they kept throwing it into the dog food...so Gavin's dad, Mike, decided to move the bowls out of the way...like I said...trouble...hahaha.



Westyn got the opportunity to hang out in the shade with Kermaline and Dave for a while...he looks like he's enjoying himself.



It was so hot on the 4th that someone decided to pull out a slip-n-slide for the kids. Of course, the older kids had no problem with it but it took a while for Garytt to get the hang of it.





At first Garytt, just wanted to splash in the pool of water at the bottom.



I don't know if Gavin had ever been on a slip-n-slide before, but he sure did love it and it didn't take him long to figure it out!







Garytt was just really unsure about the whole thing at first, so Megan tried to help him go down, which didn't work too well because she kept sticking to the plastic...



So, here is a video of Garytt trying to figure out how to do down by himself.



After Garytt figured out that it was easier to go down on his tummy, he really liked it but he still needed help getting started most of the time.













While Garytt was having fun on the slip-n-slide, Westyn was hanging out in the shade on his blanket.



So, the older kids slowly decided to go do other things, but I think that Garytt and Gavin would have continued to play on the slip-n-slide forever. We did eventually convince them to change back into regular clothes.

Megan did such a great job of helping Garytt! Then, she went and found Westyn to hang out with for a bit. She looks pretty happy to have snagged some time with the baby!



We had a great time at the picnic and it was great to see everyone! We hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!