Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has had a great 4th of July. Initally we didn't have much planned, but we were able to find plenty to do. On the 3rd, we met Andy at his branch and had dinner at our favorite BBQ restuarant. Let me just tell you, Emily was eating her fried okra like candy. I had actually made some earlier in the week, so it wasn't completely new to her. She kept asking for more. She also loved her hush puppies, so it looks like we definitely have a Southern girl! Then we rode over to Lake Benson for the NC State Symphony performance and fireworks. Emily had a good time running away from us the whole time. She was testing us out to see how far she could get before we came chasing after her. However the panic set in once the fireworks started. She never actually cried, just whined and said "No! No! No!" initally and buried her head in my chest. However I did catch her watching out of the corner of her eye towards the end.

Then today we went to the NC State Capitol grounds for a 4th of July celebration. They had music, historical demonstrations, crafts and tributes to our veterans and soldiers. It was a very nice way to salute all those that have given so much for our freedom. We are very blessed to be Americans! We also went inside the Capitol building for another muscial performance. This one was in the Senate Chambers and was a more intimate setting. Emily did very good sitting down next to us listening to the music. Then she decided to pull her cell phone from her purse and starting chatting away. This got a good laugh from those sitting around us. Andy just told them she was just like her mother.

Then we walked over to the Museum of Natural History. It was okay, but a little random. The biggest exhibit was about DUCKS. Emily was saying "duck" everytime she saw one, which was like over 500 times. They did have a cute sitting area with lots of books about ducks. And a duck shooting game. Andy had 90%, however I was around 15%, which got a lot of snickers from Andy. The other exhibits were NC sports hall of fame and NC in the military. Overall we have had a wonderful 4th of July celebrating our country's freedom and spending the day as a happy family. Emily was such a well behaved, sweet girl despite us keeping her up late last night and in the heat all day today.