It was Art City Days this week!!

For Bethany that meant Parade Band Camp all week! She agreed to give marching a try with the baritone skills she developed in junior high. They met every morning this week from 8 to 10:30. She was a bit scared about it, but decided it turned out pretty decent. I think she liked the parade part. I'm not sure she'll do it again but we had a great time watching her in the parade! (More on that later)

Also, Art City Days means the carnival was in town! We pre-purchased discount wristbands for the kids and they used them on Thursday. Kevin and I joined them for dinner from the food trucks and we took pictures and it was fun. Ben also rode his bike down with Max on Friday to enjoy it all a little more. Mariah, Cheyenne, Calianne, and Bethany all signed up to work cleaning up the grounds during the carnival, too, so they were there quite a lot! Fun times!

That also meant the parade on Saturday! Sarah's new house is very close to the parade route, so we parked in her driveway, and tried a new spot for watching the parade! Megan and Ammon joined us, too! It was such fun and cheering for Bethany was our favorite part!

That night Kevin made us all hamburgers and we stayed up waiting for it to get dark because Art City Days also means fireworks! We went to our usual spot. It's all torn up because they're in the middle of a massive rebuild of the high school and its grounds but we found some grass and it all turned out fine. We loved the fireworks on a warm summer night. It is always magical and a fantastic end to a fun week.

I watched Avery a lot this week and we even brought her on our date Friday night! I also cleaned the van and worked on the devotional I'm giving at YW camp next week.