Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Normally this is not a huge holiday for us. In fact for the past couple of years we haven't even made it to see fireworks which greatly upsets Dallas. Well this year I get A+ for effort and that is all I can say. I really want my kids to get to experience the same things as other kids. I don't want to just say "forget it" because it is too much work for me. So back to the fourth...

We were in our first parade on the 4th! The Mothers of Multiples club has had a float in the July 4th parade in Arlington for over 30 years. How cool is that getting to be in a parade just because you were born. Melissa and I decided we would decorate our wagons and pull the kids. The kids could not ride on the float because of their age. Melissa wanted to decorate them together as to not separate her "quads" but that never happened. I ended up staying up late the two days before the parade decorating the wagon. It all turned out cute enough and I was set. I had everything ready from cameras and batteries to misting fans. We were set to be patriotic!

Now all I needed was my children! Melissa and I had arrived early to get in line and get good parking. We left both of the hubbies at home with the kids but don't fear they both had parents for reinforcement. Dallas was supposed to meet me to drop off the kids at around 10:00 am and we were scheduled to start walking about 10:30- 10:45 am. At almost 9:40 I look over and realize that we are about 3 rows from going. Oh My Goodness! I call Dallas in a panic. How could I go through all this and then pull an empty wagon. Safe to say, I was stressed!

Dallas of course had no idea why I was in a panic when he was still on schedule. He somehow got from our house to the parade in about 12 mins. He did not inform me of this fact until later that day. Regardless our group had already taken off and I still had NO kids. Melissa being the amazing person she is offered to help me get my kids. We literally ran across a huge parking lot and up Cooper St. Dallas pulled up to the blockade and Melissa and I grabbed the kids. Ethan was sound asleep poor baby.

We ran as fast as we could while lugging two kids that weigh 27 lbs or more each. We ran to the street entrance of the parade and realize that there is no way we can catch up. We are at least 10 group behind our group. At this point I am really stressed! Not only are my kids not in the parade but now Melissa is stuck with me and missing her own kids in the parade.

Then a miracle happened. A wonderful man who was with the parade noticed my utter panic and exhaustion and offered to have one of the girls take us to our group. I swear I heard angels!! Melissa and I jumped on the back of the golf cart and away we went. We zoomed around floats, through cheerleaders, and over boy scouts. We finally found our group, jumped out, and threw the kids in the moving wagon which Joel had been pulling for me. (Joel is Melissa's husband.) We seat belted the kids and everything while moving.








Finally on the move...

The parade had not only started a little early but it was moving at an incredible pace. I think that is one of the reasons we went before scheduled. Regardless the Mothers of Multiples parade spot was stretched much much farther than anyone else's simply because of our "additional" duties. Not only were we pulling/ pushing twins we were also constantly misting kids, giving drinks and grapes, and picking up thrown items such as sippy cups. I have never been so impressed! Mothers of twins sure do have incredible fast reaction skills. I had come to the point were I thought I could no longer take another step when out of the crowd runs Dallas. Oh Thank God!!! We immediately made eye contact and the message was clear. "Take this wagon before I die!" "No problem, I got it." With one smooth motion he was pulling the kids and I was free. Now I do admit I am out of shape but the wagon itself is at least 20 lbs and each kids is close to 27 lbs or more. Hello! I am dragging 74 lbs of kids and wagon not including all the crap I had stored in the wagon. I was perfectly fine walking the rest of the way and Dallas was good pulling the last leg of the race. We saw Nana and Granddaddy near the end of the parade and they came and joined us in the parade.

We finished up the parade which was over 2 1/2 miles long without one child crying! No one made a fuss over anything. Amazing, considering it was nap time and it was hot. Once we arrived back in the parking lot the kids discovered all the decor on the wagon. They proceeded to take off as much as possible and eat it. I would not have minded if the letters weren't covered in glitter. So I let them out to run around which was not a good idea. Paige tore off across the parking lot and Nana had to retrieve her.We attempted a group picture on the float and everyone hurried off in different directions to get tired kids and parents home.
Paige started crying once we got to the car but overall they were so wonderful. They were patriotic troopers! Melissa and I are Parade Coordinators for the upcoming year at AMOM. We will be doing this parade again next year and the Christmas parade this December. We will have many parades in our future but we will be riding the float next time. The group decided if a child under 4 wanted to ride the float they would have to be held the entire time. Okay! Sounds good. We all experienced the wagons and we all vote parade float!

Later that evening once everyone could feel their feet again Dallas and I went to watch fireworks. Our wonderful neighbor Jim wasn't doing anything so I ask him to not do anything at our house. We went out towards Joe Pool and set up camp on the median right by the stadium they were shooting them off. The fireworks were good but the traffic after was horrible. We were gone 2 hours total just for fireworks. Dallas was happy so it was worth it.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!