Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

Get ready  . . . this is a super long post, but we did so  many fun things on the Fourth of July this year!  So unless you really LOVE to look at pictures of the Fultons (and Murrays)  be ready to fast forward during this one.  I just  couldn't decide which pictuers to use, so I used all of them!

As most of you know, I have spent pretty much every Fourth of July at my Aunt and Uncles house on Lake Sawyer in Washington, where we have a huge family reunion.  So, I have never been in Eugene on the Fourth (weird huh?).  We decided to stay in Eugene this year because my Dad was still recovering from hip surgery, and we wanted to be with Mom and Dad. My brother Sean and his family decided to come down and spend the holiday weekend with us!  My other  brother Kevin, and his family,  stayed in Washington, because Kate's family lives next door to my Aunt and Uncle, so they always get to hang out with both of their families on the fourth!  (confusing - I know)

Anyhoo!!!

I got to walk the Butte to Butte for the first time ever in my 40 years of living in Eugene!

My Mom, Francine and I

started off the day  with a 4.5 mile walk.

The Butte to Butte is a very big deal in Eugene and I have always heard about it and wanted to do it!

There is also a 7 mile run, but we opted for the walk!

. . . and here we are crossing the finish line.

It was so much fun and I saw so many people that  I know there.

I guess you end up knowing half the town when you have lived in one town this long :).

Next up was the Harrisburg Parade .  .  . also something that I have always heard about!

Max, Lucy, Will, Annie and Sam

These guys had so much fun!

Luckily someone had warned me to bring a bag for their candy.  It was amazing how much candy and treats they got from this parade!  The kids were thrilled!

It was such a fun "small town parade".  We all loved watching all of the interesting people, cars, trucks, tractors, semi-trucks etc. going by!

Francine and Annie, watching the parade.

Francine and I went straight from the Butte to Butte to the parade.

We were looking and feeling our best at this point :).

Lucy was all smiles the whole time!

Her favorite "goodies" from the parade were when she got Chocolate milk from the Lockmead Dairy float and a princess wand from the Christian Scientists Ha ha!

Oh yes, there were tractors . . .

 . . . and monster trucks too!

After the parade, we walked down to the waterfront in the little town of Harrisburg and there were all kinds  of booths with every really good/bad for you, food you could imagine!

The kids got snow cones!

We sat in this beautiful park, with this gazebo, and a band was playing music.

We ate lots of good stuff, elephant ears, snow cones, corn dogs, fajitas . . . can you say stomach ache?

I got some cute pics of the kids goofing of at the park!

After we left the park, we had a barbecue with Mom and Dad!

The adults, sitting outside watching the kids play and having drinks and appetizers!

Papa is on crutches now, but he is moving around really well!

My Mom and Dad!

Love you guys!

Sam and Will put on crazy wigs and did a concert for us too.

Sam is a huge QUEEN fan right now (thank you Pancho) so we get a lot of "We Are the Champions" concerts.

And finally . . . we ended the day with and EMS baseball game and fireworks show!

We never sit at baseball games, we always hang out near third base and play catch with each other UNTIL there is a left-handed batter, then we wait to catch the elusive foul ball!  Our boys with short attentions spans and a little bit of hyperactivity like this A LOT better than watching the game from their seats.

I am not sure if these are taco's or pizza slices, but the kids thought they were pretty funny!

As the sun went down, on a beautiful night, the boys were waiting to catch a real game ball!

group shot at the game

One of the players gave Will a REAL ball!

He was so excited!

I love sitting out on a warm summer night at the ball-park with my family!

(Since we have our coats on, some may not consider it warm, but for Oregon, IT WAS WARM!)

right after the game, the fireworks started!

so fun watching the great show

They really did a good job with the fireworks, we were all ooooing and ahhhhing.

The Grand Finale was awesome!

This morning we were treated to another concert, with Lucy as the lead singer!

Will on drums, Sam on guitar and Lucy as singer, doing more QUEEN songs!

Max is usually the AV guy in the background.  This time he had my iphone set on the cigarette lighter app and he was waving it back and forth.

Once again we had a BLAST with Sean, Francine, Will and Annie and we were so sad to see them head back to Seattle.  Even though we missed all of our Aunts, Uncles and Cousins at the Lake, we had a fabulous Fourth of July and it was fun for me to finally do all of the  Eugene Fourth of July activities that I have always heard about.  We can't wait to see all of our relatives at the Lake next year though . . .