Our family is usually at our cabin in Idaho over the 4th so this year we celebrated a little differently. It was a very full and sociable day. I really had a great time!
Mike had to work for most of the day, so I got the girls up early and all gussied up in their matching 4th outfits and we were off to St. Paul for their very patriotic parade. We picked up Mom on the way and she was a huge help. I snapped some cute pictures of the kids before the dust picked up and the candy dripped down their clean faces and white tops:) We waved and cheered and stood for the veterans riding by.
After the parade we packed up and moved on to our second stop of the day, my grandma's assisted living facility. We couldn't find her in her room and were quite perplexed until we realized my Aunt Dee and Uncle Robb from Creswell were there visiting also, and they were all in the private dining room having lunch. My cousin, Cade was there too and everyone, including the other elderly residents, were so tickled to see my kids in their matchy matchy outfits. Uncle Robb gave up his lunch to the girls and we snapped a lot of fun pictures. Grandma was happy for all the visitors. My other Aunt, Kathie, even stopped by unannounced and so we genuinely had a little family reunion right there.
In keeping with this busy pace we came home briefly and repacked the van for our third event, a bbq at Mike and Pam's house with Matt and Becca and their kiddos. Mike got home around then and we set off, hungrily awaiting for a juicy burger. It was a feast for sure. We ate traditional summer foods and watched the kids in the sprinkler. The guys and eldest kids even did some careful shooting out front. Before dark came we let off a few fireworks with the cousins and again snapped memorable pictures.
By then Mike was super tired, but this activity director had even more fun planned for our crew. We couldn't head inside without setting off more fireworks with our good friends and neighbors Cori and Darren and their kids. This was really the girls' favorite part too. We waited to almost dark and started. Oh, my, the kids were WAY excited and into it. Finally when Mike had burned his last finger and no more "works" were left unlit, we called it a day.
Mike was in bed faster then anyone of us, and I spontaneously turned on the Washington DC fireworks show up in the kids' loft. They passed out on the floor with God Bless America playing thru the screen. And I was left, last one standing, with a past out house and a satisfied heart.
We really have a blast up in the mountains when we are there on the 4th but this was amazing too. I loved seeing so many groups of the people we love and cherish and letting the kids set off fireworks too, which we don't do at the cabin. My dad always loved the 4th of July and had a common saying not reserved for just that holiday....he'd always say, "Only in America". I remembered that this year as I went to bed...how blessed we are...how laden with pleasures...how much I have to be thankful for!
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