I'm only almost a week late on this post, but really, all of my days are running together right now and there are not enough hours in a day. But that's a whole other story.
Kolt had the day off on the 4th of July, so we woke up and decided to go out for breakfast. However, the restaurant was closed. In fact, all of the restaurants in town, with the exception of McDonald's (Yuck!) were closed. So, we did the next best thing- Went to the grocery store to buy the essentials for breakfast burritos. Oh and a couple donuts for Brinleigh. (Don't worry, I was good and didn't eat any.) During this grocery shopping trip, we decided to let Brinleigh explore a little and stretch her legs and we had showed her the kids shopping carts and how to push them around the store. The first 5 minutes were a little chaotic because she realized that she had free reign of the store and she didn't understand how to turn the cart without tipping it over sideways. But once she got the hang of it, she was a shopping fool. She was grabbing bottles of water, snapple drinks, sausage, anything on her level that she could put into her cart. She loved it!
Brinleigh went down for an early nap and shortly after Kolt had to leave to go get ready and line up for the town parade. I was able to wake Brinleigh up and get her ready and out of the house in record speed (15 minutes) and we headed down town. Brinleigh ate her lunch in her stroller while we waited for the parade to start and she was fascinated by all the people and dogs lining the street. Technically, I have taken Brinleigh with me to the town's 4th of July parade every year since we have been in Sitka. The first year (2012) I was nine months pregnant with her. The second year (2013) she was just a few weeks away from her First Birthday and did very well with all the noise and commotion. You can really see the difference a year makes when you look back at the pictures from last year's parade and then at our pictures from this year.
Brinleigh absolutely LOVED watching the parade! I had soooo much fun watching her facial expressions and listening to her get so excited over everything that was going on in front of her. She had candy thrown to her and someone even walked over and handed her some snacks that they were throwing out to the crowd. Same as last year, she wasn't bothered by the loud noises of the sirens or the gun shots.
Usually, during this parade, the Coast Guard helo's do a fly over during the parade. Last year it was cancelled due to budget cuts or something, but this year.... It. Was. Awesome! The way it was coordinated and with where we were standing along the street, the helo's flew right over us at the same exact time that the Coast Guard Air Station members were walking right in front of us. I actually had to steal the helo fly by pic from another Coastie wife (Thanks Shannon!) because I was too busy taking other pictures and missed my opportunity.
As usual, the fireworks were the night before the 4th at about 11:45pm. Brinleigh slept right through them and Kolt and I hung out on the back porch watching them through the trees.
After the parade we went back home and headed over to the next door neighbors house for a BBQ. I made my delicious white chocolate covered pretzels with blue and red sprinkles and my newest addition to my recipe collection, ambrosia fruit salad. (I made this dish for the first time a few weeks ago for a wedding that we went to and Kolt loved it, so I made it again for the BBQ. I forgot to take a picture but one of these days I will get one and post that along with the recipe.) Brinleigh got to run around and play with other kids, Kolt hung out with the guys, and I didn't binge eat on nearly as much junk as I was expecting to. Which was a blessing, especially because I had to leave in the middle of the BBQ to go to my GRIT workout. (That's dedication right there, hahaha.)
With Sitka's traditional 4th of July downpour of rain, Brinleigh didn't get to wear the outfit I had bought for this day. Instead, she wore a blue onesie with an anchor on the front and some jeans. BUT, she did get to rock her new patriotic hair bow that I bought to go with the previous planned outfit.
Brinleigh & her friend, Mary.
