Jolie's First Fourth

Before I start in on the fourth, here are some great pictures from this past week:





Our patriotic little lady had quite an eventful weekend. As always, Jolie woke up early with her daddy and played most of her energy out by the time I woke up. After eating a hearty breakfast, I hastily decorated the stroller with flag banners and stars and we headed to the stroller parade in Glenside.

We were a bit tentative about heading out because it looked like the sky was going to open up any minute, but the real rain held off long enough for the festivities to go off without a hitch.

Jolie wore her red, white and blue sun dress and held her own pin wheel as we wheeled her onto the field for the "parade." Parade is in quotations because it was really just us being assigned a number and standing in line while judges scrutinized the parents' decorating skills! Since we were waiting so long, we took Jolie out of the stroller so she could check out the bikes, trikes, and floats that were created for the "parade." Unfortunately, without Jolie in the stroller, it must have appeared a little bare, because we did not win an award, despite the fact that 3 were given out and there were only 5 strollers. I will have to go a little crazy next year, if we end up competing again.






After the "parade," Matt and I decided to parade Jolie around the neighborhood. We passed a house we had considered buying 2 years ago, and saw that the people who ended up with it had twins. The amazing yard (football field sized) that came with the house will get some good use.



Since it was Jolie's nap time, rather than wait to head to Hershey, we decided to go immediately so we could spend some time with Jim, Beth, and the boys. Jolie was so tired that she fell asleep on the floor while we packed. That was the only sleep she ended up taking all day. I played in the car with her all the way to Hershey, and then she was too excited by her new surroundings to sleep at Jim and Beth's.






Jolie loved looking at the boys. She regarded them similarly to Kitten. She would pant like a dog (I don't know where she learned that, as we have no dogs) because she was so excited, and then fall backward before she could grab them. She seemed to prefer Jimmmy over Ryan (although the picture above is Ryan), probably because he's the bigger of the two boys and just as relaxed as she is!

Jolie went to bed well before any fireworks went off, so that will have to wait a year or two, but we think she had a fun first fourth.

Saturday, our little family met up with mom-mom and pop-pop for some fun at Hershey Park. Jolie went to the sea lion show and was wowed by the acrobats who were performing with Kitty and Bruce (the sea lions). She also went to the top of the kissing tower and got smooched by her parents, and she completed the chocolate factory tour. She seemed to enjoy the smell of chocolate and she liked the song at the end (No matter how near, no matter how far, you're always close to a Hershey's bar... Hershey, the great American Chocolate bar). We were so glad because we love the song ourselves!

Overall, it was an exciting weekend for our little family, and as always, Jolie proved that she's a trooper and is up for any adventures we're willing to take.