Happy Fourth of July

We started our day bright and early.

Apparently this made Lyla very upset...

This is Max. As you can see, he kept the diva behavior to a minimum.

Kirk had to work the first part of the day, 
so instead of braving the big parade alone, 

we decided to join Charli & Hali for a pancake breakfast and mini-parade instead.

Afterwards, the girls got ready for the parade.

It didn't take Lyla long to make a new friend, 
who pushed her around most of the time.

He had no problem pushing her at FULL SPEED in that little toy stroller.

Lyla was enjoying herself, but I nearly had a heart attack.

Once Kirk got home, it was party time

 (aka swimming at Charli & Jeremy's)

 Max observed from the sidelines most of the time.

Aunt Charli did dip his feet in, he didn't mind.

 And finally, fireworks!

Lyla loved waving the sparklers around,

but the other fireworks were too loud and scared her pretty bad. 

It's crazy to think that last year Lyla was only 6 months old

 and slept through all the festivities.

Now, only one year later, we have two little bear cubs.

The hardest change for me since moving to 
Texas has been adjusting to the holidays.

I'm trying my best to let go of old traditions and

 start making new ones, but it's challenging for me.

However, I have to say, 4th of July was pretty darn fun!