4th of July

El's 4th of July was full of first. It started with her first night away from mom and dad...harder for mom than anyone else. I ran in a race the morning of the 4th and had to be up and on my way at 5:30 a.m. so Ellie slept over with Grandpa and Grams Carlson. Ellie went to her first parade with grandpa and grams. I'm so sad that I couldn't be there to see her face and reaction to all the parade festivities but the report was that she loved it and didn't even cry with all the sirens at the beginning. After my race and the Murray parade we got together for swimming and a BBQ. This little girl of mine LOVES the water. She has the time of her life in the pool. And she had an extra amount of fun with daddy in the pool!

(I LOVE this picture of my girl and her daddy)

When she's not in the pool she LOVES to be swinging....

or bouncing on the trampoline.

Finally that evening Ellie experienced her first SPARKLERS and pops. She didn't quite get the firework thing....she just tried to grab them and she tried to eat the pops. Maybe next year she'll get it.