As always happens with the Fourth of July, we've had a whole weekend of activity. Brandt and Kent were gone from Friday afternoon until later on Saturday afternoon at their scout campout (see separate post). Blythe went with Grandma Dawn, McKenna, Grayson, and Norton cousins swimming and for an overnighter backyard campout (see another separate post). I found myself footloose and fancy free and because no one was around to be responsible for, I went on a long bike ride with friends on Saturday morning. The Stadium of Fire was on Saturday evening, so all the fireworks the city was shooting off were that evening, and we did go over to Sertoma Park to watch the show. Blythe fell asleep and Brandt barely managed to stay awake.
On Monday, July 3rd, looking for a way to fill some time, I took the kids downtown to the Freedom Festival which included a bunch of venders and some carnival rides. Fortunately, because it was during the day, there was no line at any of the rides. We hopped on as we wanted. We rode a couple of not too scary things, went through a hall of mirrors thing, and then got a donut from Provo Bakery. All in all, it was a good time and the kids were entertained. It got us out of the house for an hour and a half, and that was certainly a good thing.
While we were trying to decide which rides to ride, we saw the Kendrick family. They live next door to Grandma Dawn, and during the course of birthday parties, we have gotten to know their kids.
They were standing around waiting to go on some rides, too, and their son Anson (Blythe's age)
was looking for someone to ride with him.
We were going on the octopus, and although Brandt wanted to ride with me,
only two people could fit in a bucket seat, and Blythe was not interested in being with Anson at all.
We had the boys go together.
After the octopus, we went on the Sizzler, which flings you around in a circle.
It's like playing a super intense game of Jello where the person on the end gets squished super much,
the person in the middle gets squished much,
and the person on the other end only does squishing.
We all laughed and shrieked as I got squished super much, Brandt got squished much,
and Blythe just squished.
Inside the hall of mirrors.
We were made to look ridiculous with very long legs
or very short legs and very tall heads.
And then the kids rode the carousel.
I was going to ride with them, but I was too big.
Or so the sign said.
Monday evening was also the Cul-de-Sac of Fire. The Phillips, in our ward, host a similar event in their cul-de-sac, but it pales in comparison to what Christopher does in my mom's cul-de-sac. So we missed the neighborhood function to go be WOWED!!! by Christopher's show. He chose to do it on the 3rd, rather than the 4th, because of an arrangement he made with a friend. If the friend and his posse would come light off fireworks for Christopher, then Christopher and his posse would light them off for the friend's firework show. Christopher never gets to watch because he's always setting everything on fire, and he wanted to enjoy the show. So that's why we did fireworks on Monday, not Tuesday.
You would think, being as that the show was on Monday, not Tuesday, that fewer people would show up for the show. You would think wrong, however. There must have been 2,000 people in and around the cul-de-sac. There were people up the road filling the church parking lot and lawn, people in the street, people on the next street over. It was craziness! I couldn't believe it. Wisely, Christopher had brought in a couple large thick plastic pipes to keep people away from the actual fireworks, and that also allowed him to set everything up out in the street at the same time so there wasn't a break in the action. He had set up music to accompany the show, so the whole production was quite impressive. We brought eye and ear protection which was needed as we sat close and had debris rain down on us throughout. Brandt loved the whole thing. Blythe watched most of it through her blanket so if she was hit by falling detritus, it wouldn't do any damage. We got home late, but it was impressively sparkly!
Brandt and Kent before the chaos really began.
Fireworks in the staging area and on the street pre-performance.
I was trying to get a picture of the crowd, but I waited too long and it was dark.
There are sidewalk to sidewalk people across all the way back to the church parking lot.
Insane!
Well prepared with our eye protection.
Blythe and Brandt, too!
Although we had had a late night, I got up super early, like 3:00am, to go down to Center Street and help secure a parade watching spot the morning of the 4th. Our neighbors, the Davis', own a house they run their business out of right on Center Street, and by helping save spots, we are insured a good, shaded vantage point. I was there until shortly after 5:00am and then came home for a bit more sleep. About 8:30 we headed down to watch. Eugene and Sharae, Makenna, Blake, Luke, and Collin joined us, as well as lots of members from our ward. It was a lovely morning, the parade was entertaining, and the company was fabulous. Brandt insisted on wearing his scout shirt, because it seemed more patriotic, somehow. I love that!
Getting sprayed by a passing truck.
Brandt got very wet!
High fiving the po-leece.
Perhaps the parade didn't hold everyone's attention quite like I had thought.
Post parade, we went over to my mom's house to swim and bar-be-cue. The water was wet and cooling. The food was delicious and filling. The day was just right. And because we did fireworks last night, we went to bed reasonably early. I suppose the only thing I could say we really missed was the hot air balloons which lots of people go to but which we missed this year. Oh well. Maybe next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment