The Fourth of July

I love the Fourth of July.  It's hot, it's loud, it's yummy, it's wet, and it's about freedom.  I love to do it all, even though it starts early and ends late.  For me, the day began just as the 3rd ended.  We have some neighbors whose business is in a house on Center Street and who invited pretty much the whole ward to come watch the parade in the front yard.  Thing is, they just had a baby and weren't able to go early to stake out a place for all the people they invited.  They asked around for volunteers and I agreed to go spend several hours with two friends to hold our place.  I picked up Maureen Ogles and Elizabeth Elder and we spent from midnight to three am until the three to six am crew showed up.  We played cards, talked, and watched people walking, biking, and driving by.  I was astounded at the number of people out and about during the wee hours of the Fourth.  It was crazy--sort of like us playing cards in the front yard.

Maureen, me, Elizabeth

2:56am

After getting about five hours of sleep, we all woke and went to the parade.  Our journey there was funny.  Normally when we go to the parade, we take the car and the scooter.  I will drive the car with the children to about 700 North and maybe 500 East, we'll park, then we'll all climb on the scooter and continue down to Center Street.  It makes parking a breeze, the retreat speedy, and the whole getting there and back much less of a nightmare.  

This year we encountered a problem.  900 East was all torn apart with construction, and the portion of BYU campus we would normally drive through was block off because the parade starts there.  We tried to wend our way around unsuccessfully, so we eventually parked on campus, just across the street from the business building.  We piled on the scooter with Brandt in front, then Blythe squished between Kent and me.  It was not safe, but very Asian.  Had we been in China we could have included the dog and three chickens, but here, we just had the four of us.  We drove illegally down the bike ramp on the south side of campus, came out eight blocks north of where we needed to be, and saved ourselves a lot of time getting to the parade.

Because I was one of those who helped secure our spot, we had pick of primo seats.  We put our chairs right by the curb, and the children were able to sit on the shoulder of the road (when they sat).  Sharae, Makenna, and Luke came and met up with us, and with the company of cousins and neighborhood friends, on a beautiful morning, and celebrating our freedoms at the parade, we all had a great time.

Gavin Drake, Collin and Ashlyn Elder, Abbie and Mike Drake, and Blythe

Gavin again, with Luke and Brandt

Makenna and Luke, with various neighborhood kids in the background

Brandt and Blythe looking expectantly east, waiting for the next big thing to come down the road.

Oh, and eating snowcone.

The cousins watching: Makenna, Brandt, Blythe, and Luke

These little girls make me laugh.

Blythe, Ashlyn Elder, and Abbie Drake

At parade's end.

The return scooter trip was fraught with peril.  I suggested to Kent we do the whole thing in reverse order.  Blythe did insist on riding in the front (only fair), so off we went.  We saw many more policemen on our way back to the car than we did going to the parade.  Just as we turned to go up the bike ramp and drive past the sign that said, "No motorized vehicles beyond this point," a BYU police car drove up, slowed, and an officer leaned out and said, "You weren't planning on driving up that ramp, were you?"  Nope, we sure weren't.  Well, yes, we sure were, but with the officer right there, we changed our minds.  Instead, we drove around the south part of campus (passing another two officers moving signs) and up the hill back to our car.  As we were almost there, another police car came up behind us, turned on lights and gave us a beep, and then told us to pull over.  Kent stopped where we would have stopped anyway to get to the car, we helped the children off the scooter, and the children and I were instructed to "Return to [our] vehicle."  The officer asked for Kent's license and then read him the riot act for having the kids on the scooter with us, especially as none of us were wearing helmets.  Brandt did not want to go back to the car but stay and hear everything the officer was saying to Kent, and he probably asked him sixteen questions about it when we got home.  Fortunately, Kent was not issued a ticket.  

When we got home we made ice cream, packed up swimming suits, and made our way (in the car) over to my mom's house for the rest of the day.  We swam and played with cousins and ate a yummy early dinner.  We had pulled pork sandwiches with pickled veg, salads, fruit, and guacamole.  Aunt Darlene brought the salad with all the edible flowers.  How fancy is that?!  I intended on making frosted star shaped sugar cookies like Grandma Hare used to do every year, but I couldn't find my star shaped cutter and then I ran out of time, so there were no cookies to go with the ice cream.  Grandma would have been disappointed.  I didn't tell anyone I was going to make them, however, and I don't think they were really missed with all the other food/goodies.

After swimming and food, the evening festivities began.  Christopher had been to Wyoming and got a truckload (literally) of fireworks, and lots of people began streaming into the street for the Cul-de-sac of Fire.  All the little boys were madly lighting small fireworks in anticipation of the big stuff, and quite frankly, this worried me.  Blake (13 years old) had a small blow torch and was the "big guy" doing the lighting.  So dangerous and so exciting.  And nearly complete pandemonium.

  

These are pictures of the piles of fireworks divided into each sortie.

There were five piles and five spectacular displays, all exploding right over our heads.

Again, so dangerous and so exciting.

Christopher does know how to put on a good show.

Preparations

We sat on the grass and encouraged the children to sit with us.  We also encouraged them to keep their shoes on, but as you can see from Brandt's feet, they didn't necessarily listen to anything we said.

The picture taker moved.

With the camera setting, it looked like our spirits were leaving our bodies.

In years past, we haven't stayed for the Cul-de-sac of Fire because we live on the east side of town, near the Stadium of Fire.  The one year we made the mistake of staying on the west side of town until the fireworks ended, we were stuck in traffic two blocks from our house for 45 minutes.  Not only are there 63,725 people at the stadium watching the show, there are another 200,000 watching on blankets all around the stadium on the east side of town.  All those people start home at the same time, and it has never seemed like it was worth it to attempt to travel with them all just to see some fireworks.  Plus, the children have been smaller and we hadn't told them about the fireworks, putting them to bed at their normal bedtime.  However, after the 24th celebration we attended last year, Brandt was insistent that we stay this year to see the fireworks.  We made a cunning plan to return home via Carterville Road and come back to our house from the north, thus avoiding traffic.  We were successful with the exception of a small fender bender we came upon near the start of Carterville Road.  We went up State Street to 800 South in Orem, then home that way.  It was longer but still speedy.  It was very late and the kids fell asleep in the car.  We put them into bed at nearly eleven, and we quickly followed.  All in all, it was a wonderful Fourth of July, from early beginning to late end.