My Last AAA 4th

To celebrate our independence from the English, we headed as far away from them as possible* by taking our annual trip to Rockaway Beach:







We stayed on the beach for a bonfire, and it was colder than I'd expected, so I had to borrow Daddy's sweatshirt:



I hung out with Mom:



And I told her some ghost stories:



She kept saying "E.T. phone home," and my dad just rolled his eyes. I'm not sure what that was about:







Finally, I practiced the Shuffle for my SYTYCD audition:



The next day I realized I hadn't seen a tractor in awhile, so I headed down to the parade with my two favorite Grandmas:



Books are cool:



Daddy thinks his shades make him look cool:



And I'm the coolest of them all:



My favorite float was the train:



Jackpot!



Later we hung out at the beachhouse and Uncle Jack taught me how to use the telescope:



It sure made him look small!

Then we bundled up for the fireworks:



It was lots of fun and a little loud:



The next day we went out on the Garibaldi Pier to look at boats, crabs, and fish (or at least boaters, crabbers, and fishermen):





And we visited the short lighthouse at Cape Meares:



After seeing the train in the parade, I had to give the real one a try:



Choo, choo!













We chugged past the Three Graces:





The train was so much fun that I pretended to be one**:



Of course, no 4th of July weekend is complete without waving a flag around...:





...and a trip to the petting farm:







☺

* Someday I'll use this logic to get a trip to Hawaii out of Mom and Daddy!
** And then I sat my parents down and talked to them about train track safety.