Almost as Good as Christmas

The competition for the Houston County 4th of July parade was the fiercest I've ever seen.

Good thing I've been decorating bicycles and parade floats for over a week.

I know what you're thinking...over a week?

Well, I still have 4 months until I can decorate for Christmas, so this helped to tide me over.

The theme was Happy 175th Birthday Houston County, and we went all out.

I started working on Reed's first.

Convincing him to ride the Big Wheel was the hardest part. (I needed him on the Big Wheel so I'd have more surface area to decorate.)

Once he finally understood that a parade wasn't a race he was fine with the Big Wheel, but I still needed more surface area.

So, of course, I did what any normal person decorating a 4th of July bicycle would do....

My dad and I had Freddie build a wooden platform and then attach it to the back so it could hold a giant birthday cake.

Here it is from the front.  I was going for "over-the-top birthday party".

For Kyle's entry I wanted a little more of a country theme. 

I was seriously giggling and entertaining myself when I grabbed up the toy horse to decorate.

A side view.

A back view of both.

I explained to the guys many times that they should "go slow and wave to everybody". 

They definitely had that part down!

 (And if you're wondering about the coonskin caps and vests they're wearing...It's part of the Houston County theme, they're little Davy Crockett's...quite fitting in a town named 'Crockett'.)

That's Freddie in the orange cap with his little boy.  He walked with me so Kyle and Reed could wave to Maw-Maw on the parade route.

JR was in the float competition, and being that he unexpectedly won 3rd place last year, I knew he'd be upset if I didn't pull off something great.

My dad and I had a blast turning the stuffed scarecrow we had around the house into of a 4th of July pioneer woman.  (The best part is she's wearing a dress I wore as a little girl!) 

And the front looked pretty good too.

JR's and old pro at parading the trail wagon.

Like I said, the competition was fierce, so we were excited when Reed won 3rd place in bikes/battery cars and JR won 2nd in floats. 

Luckily, Kyle is Mr. Noncompetitive so he was upset for about a second. (Truth be told, Kyle's was my favorite of the 3.)

My little Coloradoans were so hot by awards time, this is the only picture I have of "our" winnings.