4th of July

The 4th of July is always one of my favorite days of the year. The first few years we lived California, we included the beach in our celebrations. The last couple of years, however, we've dodged the beach crowds and stuck close to home. All of our small town celebrations are the best and I want to be in the middle of it all.

We started the morning with the Little Firecrackers 1K Dash. 

We met up with R2-D2 while waiting for the parade to start.

We love watching the little parade. There are no elaborate floats, but lots of candy!

Blake and Nash found a swinging branch on the way home from the parade.

Finn found all the lollipops.

Bumping into friends and neighbors is half the fun of the small town festivities.

We have a tradition of decorating our bikes. It's a lot of work that usually goes late into the night on the 3rd, but I'll take the excitement while it lasts.

Next up was our street party, organized by the moms.

We rented an inflatable water slide and it was a hit.

Back at our house we prepped for hosting our friends for a BBQ.

Many rounds of cornhole were played after Troy grilled up our 4th of July favorites.

We geared up for an evening back at town center.

Not without a few tears first to keep it real.

Everyone wanted the coveted inflatable guitar.

We walked to the park where all of the festivities were happening and watched the live concert wrap up.

Then we settled in for fireworks. I love being right underneath the display, with ashes falling and music blaring. 

The 4th of July is the best.

Recipe for a Southern California Day

Recipe for a Southern California Day:

Step 1: Climb a tree at Salt Creek Beach while waiting for the trolley.

Step 2: Put on some shades.

Step 3: Gather your cousins and jump on the trolley.

Step 4: Admire the ocean view while riding up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Step 5: Don't let the wind blow you away.

Step 6: Get Laguna's best gelato and share with your brother in the back alley.

Step 7: Walk through a Laguna Beach art museum.

Step 8: Head to Laguna Beach.

Step 9: Find the beach playground equipment.

Step 10: Climb the sloped tree trunk.

Step 11: Jump!

Step 12: Ignore the tantrummer.

Step 13: Scratch that; dog pile on the tantrummer.

Step 14: Cousin pile-up.

Step 15: Convince the trantrummer to join you.

Step 16: Jump on the trolley again and take in the PCH views.

Step 17: Cap off a beautiful day at the local pool.

Step 18: Repeat this tradition every year.