I'm Proud to Be An American

Our July 4th celebration this year was a combination of traditional and non-traditional events. Actually, the only non-traditional thing about it was the fact that we didn't watch fireworks, but more on that later.

Anyway, each year, Coppell has a Fourth of July parade and three years ago, when Jay started his business, Praytor Landscape started riding in the parade. The first couple of years, we recruited family and friends to be in the parade with us, handing out suckers, business cards, and flyers. This year, we decided to keep it simple...we all rode in Jay's trucking, smiling, waving and shouting, "Happy Fourth of July!"

Jay, Truett, Emma, Sarah and I all woke up BRIGHT and EARLY Saturday morning, got dressed and headed to the 'starting point' to get our place in the parade line up. When we got there, we walked around (not for long) to look at the other floats and 'riders'.

Truett posing with "Sarge" We wore 'holiday-colored' Praytor Landscape shirts, complete with a yellow ribbon to support our troops, ESPECIALLY since one of the 'troops' is my brother-in-law! :) *Embroidering compliments of Gifted Sistas.

Shortly after we got to the line up, Jay's dad, brother (Jim), sister-in-law (Stephanie) and nephew (Dakota) showed up to join in the festivities. My brother, John, also came along. My parents and Jay's parents had all joined in last year, but my dad was working and both of our moms decided that it was just TOO HOT to ride. :)

Dakota

John

Jay decorated the truck and the 'crew' piled into the back.

After a few minutes of sitting in the heat, Truett decided he no longer wanted to ride in the back of the truck, so he joined us inside the cab...SMART BOY! :)

Truett & Jay getting ready for the parade to start

Sarah getting ready for the parade to start

Jay's dad getting ready for the parade to start

Emma getting ready for the parade to start :)

Soon after the parade started, Emma woke up and joined in all the fun. About half way through the parade, Truett had had enough and decided he didn't want to wave anymore. Here is how he spent the rest of the parade.

Truett riding in Emma's carseat, watching YouTube videos and playing games on my phone!

After the parade was over, we all headed over to the Praytors' for lunch. Ms. Lynda had prepared an All-American menu for the day.

Grilled hot dogs


Baked beans

We all ate, visited and enjoyed the cool indoors!

Truett & I

Mr. James (Jay's dad) & Stephanie

Jay & I sporting our patriotic Praytor Landscape shirts

My mom & Emma

Truett giving Jay a kiss before his nap....before JAY'S nap! :)

After lunch, Jay, Truett, Emma and I headed over to my parents' house for naps and then swimming. Later on, we all went over to my parents' friends' house for more hot dogs and burgers. Their backyard backs up to the park where the City of Coppell has their annual fireworks display so it's the perfect place to be when the show starts. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we were up BRIGHT AND EARLY that morning, so we missed the fireworks. :(

Despite the heat, we had a good time being with family and friends to celebrate. "There ain't no doubt I love this land. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!"