Nan and Pop are here!! They arrived Monday night, in time for their first celebration of America's Independence Day on Wednesday.
We went ALL OUT on the Fourth of July. Pancake breakfast, parade, pool party and barbecue with family and friends, followed by fireworks. Can't get any more Fourth-ish than that!
The Rotary Club's pancake breakfast was delicious, as always.
We simply stepped outside the breakfast area for a perfect shady spot to watch the parade from its very beginning.
Seeing friends in the parade is always a highlight. Here, Stace is waving to horse-riding Sadie, a former soccer teammate of Cora's. We also saw friends of Violet's on a Girl Scout float.
Sue and Gord didn't get to ride bikes from our house - our normal tradition - nor did they sweat through a 100-degree day. But our parade experience, on a much cooler-than-average morning, was excellent.
Afte the parade, we walked around Old Town Newhall, shopped at Barn and Charm, and got drinks at Honu Coffee. Then, we went home to get ready to host a barbecue.
We had our friends meet us at the pool. Pam, Cooper and Wylie, and Yass, Kelly, Charlie and Jake, all came to play. Later, my dad and Mel and Nick also joined the party. (Mom was at work, but came with us to fireworks.)
Here, Cooper is "it" during a came of colors.
Nick amazed us with his ability to list off the Top 10 grossing films of any given year. Here, he's rattling off the top films from 2005. I love Yass and Kelly's shocked faces.
We returned home and got dinner ready, while the kids ran around and played. Charlie loves the trampoline - he's in it a lot when he comes to play.
Thanks to Pam for the next set of photos. Here's Cora and Jake enjoying their Fourth feast.
As Pam pointed out, our celebration of America was an international affair: we had English, Cubans and Brazilians.
Pam brought the Brazilian friends - she'd met Marcella and Felipe camping the prior week, and they were on their way down from Yosemite Wednesday. It was their last day in California before they were to fly home, and we welcomed them over with open arms. Stace donned his Brazil football shirt, as the World Cup is in full swing, and gave Felipe an England shirt to wear.
Yass, our Cuban friend, was in charge of bringing brats and buns, and boy, did he come through. We had something like half a package of buns per person.
Felipe's little boy was friendly, though he spoke no English. He and Violet had fun drawing together (and it was probably nice for Vi to not be the youngest again!).
We then continued the 80s Movie Nights with Back To The Future II.
We then went down to see the fireworks.
Our night continued at Pam's house, with sparklers and dessert - vanilla ice cream and various sodas, for a Make Your Own Float bar. Just as our Founding Fathers would have wanted!
A town crier started the festivities, which included dozens of marching groups and themed floats with singing, lights, moving parts and more. 
Had to get a photo of this one!
Our favorite majorette group, the Ilchester Gems, with Chloe on the far left! We all loved watching her perform and being in town to do so.
