Every year on July 3rd, or the last work day before the 4th of July, there is a family day at Jordan's work where the employees being their kids to the office. The office then closes half way through the day for a company picnic. Jordan mentioned taking the kids to work on Friday and they jumped on the idea. I dropped them off about 10:00 am. They stayed for about an hour then Jordan took them to lunch.When they got home they couldn't stop talking about the "circus" they saw and how Dad was taking them there later. The city of Lawrence has a carnival every year in a park right by Jordan's work complete with rides, games, and fair food (I never knew this existed until this year). The kids apparently spotted it right away and we were talked into going. Once I got them off of the "circus" excitement and asked them what they saw at Dad's work, Colby informed me he had to give up his Leapster to get through security, just like at the airport. They told me about the pictures on Jordan's desk and the candy bar guy who gave them candy. As promised, later that day we went to the carnival and let them ride a few rides. The favorite, and the only one worth doing, was the giant inflatable balls in the water. Colby had a blast running and falling over and over again. Carter was too afraid to stand up, but enjoyed floating around and laughing at Colby. I kind of wish I had one of these at home to wear Colby out. 5 minutes in that thing and he was exhausted! I was thankful for cloudy, cool weather.

Carter didn't want to ride the ferris wheel so he and I went on the carousel while Colby and Jordan went on the ferris wheel.

I don't think the kid is afraid of heights!

They un-zipped the zipper, Jordan threw Colby in, and they told him to plug his ears as they refilled it with air with a leaf blower.

I love this picture. It took him a minute to realize he could move and get comfortable.

Carter doing the famous "Carter pose". Could he be any cuter???

Saturday morning Dora and Diego were at the Children's Museum, so we headed out first thing in the morning to get there when it opened and get tickets to see them.

We had to wait about a half hour before our time slot to see them, so we made a visit to the dino exhibit.

After Dora and Diego there was fighting over who got to drive the car...



2 rides on the carousel...



a visit to the science exhibit...



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lunch, the planetarium show: One World One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure, and lastly the Dora and Diego exhibit. We always have to drag the kids out of there sooner than they would like to leave. When we reminded them that they had to get ready for fireworks, they were much more willing to go. Jordan took them to buy fireworks earlier in the week and they had been dying to set them off for days. We designated Saturday as the day since we were going to the baseball game on Monday.

Ice cream outside before the fireworks



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It was so adorable to listen to them explain to each other how the fireworks worked



He's such a photogenic little kid!



The favorites of the night were the fireworks that shot up into the air, exploded, then an army man with a parachute floated down.



Our neighbors, RaeAnn, Gavin, and baby Olivia joined us for the fun




On Monday morning we headed to the Carmel parade with our neighbors, the Zents. It was a little long with 120 or so entries and got really hot by the end, but the kids had a great time. Many of the floats or participants throw out candy to the kids. Carter couldn't have been happier sitting in his little camp chair, eating a sucker, and watching the parade.




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After the parade was over we went home to cool off and rest up for the baseball game and fireworks that evening in downtown Indy. We watched the game and then they had a short firework show after the game. About 10 minutes after that show ended, the downtown fireworks started which you can see from your seats in the stadium. I was worried about the heat, but our seats were in the shade and the evening was relaxed and enjoyable. Other than the Indians losing 2-1, it was a perfect end to our evening and weekend. Happy 4th of July!