We had a wonderful Independence Day weekend celebration. For some reason, if the Fourth of July is on a Sunday or Monday, the Stadium of Fire is on Saturday. Usually we are across town at the Cul-de-sac of Fire and don't really watch the Stadium fireworks, but as it was the 2nd, not the 4th, we walked over to Sertoma Park to watch. It was late by the time they started and both Brandt and Blythe were cold. Blythe was pretty much over it before the fireworks even started. It was a late night but the fireworks were great.
Waiting for fireworks to start.
On Sunday night, I joined Mikayla, McKenzie Drake, and Janie Rasmussen at Nelson and Hilary Davis' business on Center Street where we played cards and insured no one tried to muscle in on the parade route watching site. We went at 11:00pm and came home just before 3:00am. I went to bed just after the kids and got a short nap, then slept again before getting up at 8:00am to go to the parade. We met Eugene and Sharae, Mikayla and Guy, and joined lots of neighbors. There were treats including shaved ice, and plenty of activity that didn't involve the parade to keep everyone entertained.
Post parade, we came home for a bit of a rest and food preparations before going to Grandma Sue's to swim with cousins. I didn't take a lot of pictures because Mikayla was filming things with the new GoPro, but it didn't really work, so the one picture below is the one picture I've got. We headed to David and Sharon's house for a bar-be-cue, but not before the starving children ate dinner. It was first dinner before second dinner.
The post-swim BBQ with the Barri was fun. Brandt and Blythe played with their second cousins while we adults did lots of visiting. Grandpa George is in town for upcoming weddings, and it was wonderful to see him. Second dinner was delicious and included homemade ice cream--tutti fruitti, a Barrus Family favorite.
Christopher was putting on his Cul-de-sac of Fire this evening, and the kids did not want to miss it. We've watched preparations over several days, and Brandt in particular was keen to get back to Grandma Sue's for the show. And what a show it was! Four sorties of excessive fireworks exploding directly overhead. Debris rained down, the noise was deafening, the crowd enormous. There were people who had staked out a place to watch from the church parking lot as well as all around the cul-de-sac. It was crazy, just like every year. But it is a chance to see and visit, if only briefly, with people we don't see much the rest of the year. Christopher communes with De; he was giddy over the whole thing most of the night. Kent didn't stay for the fireworks and he scowled when we got home well after 11:00pm. That's the way it is with Independence Day--it starts way too early and ends way too late. Fortunately, it's only once a year. Happy birthday America!
The before: a trailer full of explosives
The after: spent containers.
No comments:
Post a Comment