Happy 4th of July Everyone!

First of all, I'd like to say, this was our FIRST 4th of July to be here in Oregon (besides the year when we were in Klamath Falls, but I wouldn't really count that as Oregon!) It was fun to do some of the local 4th of July festivities I've been hearing about! We started off with a parade in Mollala. We were with a huge group and we all kept busy waiting for the parade by playing with pop-its!

My boys loved these clowns on funny bikes!

They were intent on getting lots of candy, too!

I loved the bag pipes!

Porter made a haul and was soooo proud of the peeps he got! Yep, that's right, they were throwing out Easter candy. Only in Mollala...

After the parade, we headed to a Catholic church for their all-famous Catholic Chicken. Here's all the kids excited to eat some yummy food!

And the Catholic Chicken did not disappoint! My kids are not meat eaters, but Porter cleaned the bones!

After Catholic Chicken, we headed to the Mollala Buckeroo Rodeo. My boys decided they wanted to try their hand at Mutton Bustin'!

They were awesome! I got videos of them that I'll have to post later. Their friend Ansen was brave enough to ride a sheep, also!

We saw Smokey the Bear! I love Smokey! When I was young (maybe 6ish?) I wrote a letter to Smokey and he sent me a bunch of stuff back! Only YOU can prevent forest fires!

Brody enjoying the rodeo with his daddy. (I just looooove this picture!)

This was a very kid-friendly rodeo. One of the games they played was so funny! Porter & Hudson & any other kids that wanted to, went down to the field & took their shoes off.

Here's all the shoes! And they were shuffled around, too!

Then the kids had to run back to the pile of shoes and find their own shoes! So funny to watch! I'm glad my kids came back with the right shoes on:)

After the rodeo, my kids had had it! (actually it was half way through the rodeo, but oh well) So we went home for a mandatory nap. Then we headed to Mt. Angel for fireworks! Waiting for the fireworks, the adults chatted, the kids ran around playing football, then kept themselves busy with glow sticks!

The actual fireworks show was awesome!

But my favorite part was watching the delight on my kids' faces! Priceless!