America's Birthday Party, Part II

Our second day of celebrating was on July 3rd, which we spent with Derek's relatives (who had come in from N.C.). The day started with a parade in Derek's parents' neighborhood and consisted of a police escort and followed up with firemen and their trucks. Take a look:

Lining up before the parade began:

Cherish and cousin Nathan:

The music float:

There were a total of three trucks:

Here the parade is in progress.

The men decorated their lawn mowers:

This is after having walked about a mile:

Afterwards was picnic time:

The dessert contest proved YUMMY!

After the picnic was pool games. Since I helped with the games, there is an obvious absence of pictures. After the organized pool games and prizes, it was play time in the pool.

Cherish and cousin Courtney:

Despite my efforts, I burnt on this day. Therefore, the next day when the others went to the pool, momma stayed away.

On July 4th, we went to worship with our church family, had a cookout for lunch, some of the family went to the pool, and then we all went to a baseball game--which was followed by fireworks. All in all, it was a very full and wonderful three-day weekend.