4th of July Bonanza!

Saturday morning, we woke up nice and relaxed after driving for two days from Chicago to Salt Lake City. My mom, Quinton and I didn't really have any plans except to enjoy the 4th of July festivities.

We ended up having one of the best impromptu holidays, ever!

We headed to downtown Provo since I'd been to "Freedom Fest" a long time ago and knew it would have fun stuff to do, but little did I know that the Freedom Fest has about tripled in size and they had a ton of fun rides for the kids - and kids-at-heart!

As you can tell from the collage of 4th pictures above, we had a ton of fun!
Quinton';s favorite ride of the day was the "Euro-Bungee" where they strapped him into a harness and then clipped him into elastic resistant bands and then let him jump up and down. The operator helping Quinton was so impressed with Quinton's skills, that he raised the bars so Quinton couldn't even touch the trampoline and then he would yank Quinton down and let him FLY about 20 feet up into the air! Quinton had the biggest smile on his face! People even stopped to watch him bounce so high and clapped when he got off of the ride!

After Freedom Fest, it was really hot so we went to the cheap-o theatre and sat in the air-conditioned theater watching Monsters vs. Aliens for $2 each. That was lovely and did the trick. We were nice and rested after the movie.

After the movie, we met up with a woman from whom we scored some dirt cheap tickets to the big fireworks show held at my Alma mater, Brigham Young University, called the Stadium of Fire! Apparently, these were HOT tickets for the 16 and under crowd since the Jonas Brothers were the headliners! Don't be alarmed if you haven't heard of them or if you have (like me) and you can't name a song they sing to save your life!

Here is a picture of the stadium as it filled up with over 50,000 people!
One of Quinton's favorite moments of the evening was when four F-16s flew right over the stadium. They were a sight to behold!

The two big acts for the show were country music girl group, SheDaisy and as I mentioned before, The Jonas Brothers. We were sitting next to a BUNCH of tweens who went NUTS when the Brothers came out on stage. The noise was a bit much for Quinton so he and I spent a lot of time under the stadium seats near the snack bar. Fortunately for me and Quinton, I realized that they sell ear plugs at the snack bar. After about 45 minutes, I coaxed Quinton into wearing the ear plugs and he was a HAPPY CAMPER! Seriously, we were able to sit down, watch the rest of the concert AND sit through the fireworks show without him having to put his fingers in his ears or cry because it was too loud. Thank goodness for the ear plugs!

Matt text me during the show and asked me to snap a picture of Quinton enjoying the fireworks since he was all the way back in Chicago. Hopefully, this picture conveys the wonder of a 3 and-a-half year old enjoying the magnificent fireworks show flashing before his eyes. We were SO close to the fireworks that my mom actually had cinders in her hair when we got home that night!

The Stadium of Fire was so much fun!

I don't know if we will ever have a chance to go again but it was totally worth it!

This is Quinton after the show...once he had his ear plugs, he LOVED the concert, dancing and fireworks. I am thankful for this blog so that I have a record, for Quinton, of all the fun things he's done in his life. I love having a 3.5 year old to share these kinds of things with and am also grateful my mom was there with us to share all of these memories, too!

We hope you had a wonderful 4th, too!