Party in the U.S.A.

by Sean

Welcome to Rockaway Beach
 

As longtime readers of this blog know, we regularly celebrate America's birthday at Rockaway Beach with the grandparents (and parents, but really -- it's all about the grandparents)...and the beach:





[Paste obligatory parental/familial pictures here:]






[end parental section, continue with beach and fun]

As you can tell, we had a great time!






We kicked off the week by making and devouring some red, white, and blue popsicles:


When the parents got a little camera-happy, I had to shut them down with my 'look:'


Here it is again:


See, I don't really mind the pictures, but I get a little tired of them pressuring me to model like David Hasselhoff (here's Miles' impersonation from 2009):


Parents are the worst!


Just kidding Mom! I love you!


Here's Miles' take on the modern, cheeseburger loving Hoff:


Nice shades Miles!
How do they look on me?


I think I like these better:


What do you think?


I agree, Miles does look best in his shades:


And these are the pair for me when I lay back and catch some rays:


Hey, get out of my sun!


Later on, I escorted Mom and Miles to the beach.


In exchange, Miles showed me how to breakdance:


Mom watched from afar:


Am I doing it right?


We flashdanced back to the present to play in the water:


...and run in the sand:


We spent a few days excavating a river for Ducky:


Here's Miles hard at work surveying Ducky's river:


While dredging, Miles found a man in the sand, and poured him back into the water:


Daddy and Miles went looking for him, and finally saw him, way out in the water:


Then, right before my eyes, Miles got really big!


...and he smiled down at me and said he was practicing optical illusions, whatever that means.






...then he suddenly got really small:


But before I could squish him, he was back to normal, playing Frisbee with Daddy:


He tried to get me to play, but I had a bucket (no little men in this one):


We saw some great wildlife, but our deer wasn't mutant this year (last year's, 2012's):


This dog-riding bird was a little odd though:


We saw several more good sunsets during the week:



Whoops, that last one wasn't the sun (it was a nighttime firework)!

 


It was so pretty that Mom even took a good dumb-camera-phone photo:


As usual, we took our annual train ride to Garibaldi:




Three Graces looks a lot different at low-tide!


But the Garibaldi pier looks the same:


We got Grandma Bear to pose with us for some pictures:


And she took some of us:


Uh oh, the train's about to leave:


Miles, don't leave without us!


So we hopped on, hobo-style:


And we were off:
 
 
 

And, of course, on the 4th, there was the annual parade:

Grampa entertained me while we waited for it to start:


Um, when's it going to start?


OMG I think I see it!


Daddy? Really? Tractors?! After last year's no-show, I thought you guys were kidding!

(ed: Not kidding: 2012, 2011, 2009)

Miles pointed out later that the best part is the candy (not tractors):


I watched him wave some down and plotted my plan for next year's parade:


And immediately started training (a la Rocky)!




While others sat around the house getting slower:




After all that hard work, we gobbled up our dinner and gave it two spoons up!


Of course, we still had room for sundaes!


And then Daddy and Miles went for a jog to stay in candy-gathering shape:


After his runner's-high wore off, Miles taught me to yawp:


Am I barbaric enough?


Then came the real fun: Fireworks!


It looks a little scary to me:


And I'm definitely not sure about the ground bloom flowers:


But I definitely appreciate a good glowstick!


After all those fireworks (and that smoky train), we took a break to learn about fire safety:


Next we had a few final poses for the parents:






And then, despite my pleas, it was time to leave the beach:




See you next year!
 

And Happy Birthday, America!

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