Happy Birthday Haley & America

Every year when we come to Seaside we try to make it around the 4th of July.  This means my baby sister (if at 25 years old I can still call her that) usually gets to celebrate her birthday there as well.  Haley turned 25 on July 1st and we all enjoyed the evening at dinner and then presents with birthday key lime pie.

Me, Haley and my mom at birthday dinner at The Great Southern.

Haley requested a Key Lime Pie as her birthday "cake".  We ordered it from Stinky's Fishcamp in Santa Rosa after reading about it in Southern Living (love that magazine).  It was definitely worth the write up.  The pie was yuuummmmyyyy!

Happy 4th of July Everyone!!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and celebrating it in Seaside makes it all that more special to me and my family.  I always feel such a sense of patriotism and pride for my country at the end of the day and Seaside puts on a great show for the 4th.  It starts early in the morning with a parade for all the locals and guests to participate in.  You can decorate your bike, golf cart, car or just dress up and walk along the three mile route if you want to join in the festivities.

Just a few of the many "floats" in the parade.

  

   Even Wade joined in on the fun  

Check out all that loot

Later that evening, there is a concert in the ampetheater and fireworks on the beach.  This year the ceremony was a little different.  The concert was canceled the evening of the 4th because of torrential rains that never seemed to end.  Although the weather was unfortunate, it didn't stop our group or the entire town and surrounding area from rolling out to celebrate.

our fam waiting and hoping the concert would still be on

Ava and Reece sharing a snow cone while we wait

After the concert there is a spectacular fireworks show on the beach.  While this too was different this year because of a lack of a barge to shoot them from (they were all in the gulf helping with the oil cleanup), the show was just as great.  Chris and I watched them from Bud & Alley's upstairs bar and had a great vantage point.  It literally felt like the were going off right over our heads. For anyone who knows me, you know that fireworks are one of my favorite things in the whole world.  Watching them with the ocean as your backdrop is such a spectacular way to see them.  They light up the water at the same time that they are exploding over you.  It is like getting two shows in  one.  Thankfully the rain moved out in time for this portion of the evening to happen as planned.

My family and I are so blessed to all be able to spend such a wonderful day together as we have done so for the past few years.  Even though this year the day was a little bit of a bust without the concert, we were all still able to be with each other and celebrate this wonderful country that we live in together.  I am already looking forward to next year's celebration.