Independence Day Celebrating

We began our Independence Day celebrating at the parade. Mikayla and my spot saving efforts in the middle of the night meant we had front row seats. We did spend most of the parade telling people standing in front of us to sit down. It's highly irritating to be sitting at the edge of the street, essentially in the gutter, and still not be able to see the goings-by. We visited with neighbors, yelled, "SPIN IT! SPIN IT!" as the huge balloons came by, waved to the beauty queens, saw Ruth Wilberg (Brandt's girlfriend) as she passed by on a float, and were filmed by Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) who came by with other members of The Chosen cast. Brandt was doing crowd control with other Explorers, and we saw him as he and a friend (name?) came by and encouraged the children to stay out of the road. All in all, it was a great start to the day. I took a lot more pictures at the parade than those I have included here, mostly because Thea kept saying, "Grantie Kake, picture that! Picture that!" So I did. 

Before I even got to our parade watching site, 

I got this picture from McKenzie Drake 

who saw Brandt and Delbert patrolling. 

Ruth passing by

Jesus and his disciples

Brandt's friend and fellow Explorer Nate

Brandt's friend and fellow Explorer Landon

Eugene and Sharae know the Chik-fil-A balloon owners and helped

them at the balloon festival this morning.

They got a picture of the float as they passed by.

My raccoon with a float raccoon.

Brandt and his friend and fellow Explorer Delbert

Most of the rest of the day was spent at my mom's house. We swam and ate then swam some more. Tom and Darlene and some of their kids came, as well as Georgianne and Lauren and a couple of their kids. It is pretty much the only time we see Hare cousins during the year, and it's always nice to catch up with them. 

We headed home as it got closer to dark, then walked over to Sertoma Park to watch the fireworks. We sat with Janie and Ty Rasmussen who were there with all their boys. It was a terrific way to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy.

A picture of part of the food.

No pictures of swimming.

No pictures of fireworks watching.

I was going through Kent's photos on his phone, making sure I had those I might need for the blog, and I found this picture of Kent's feet, taken on July 4th.

Why did Kent take a picture of his feet?

Your guess is as good as mine.

I was laughing about it, but then Brandt made this lovely collage

and I laughed even harder.

Happy 4th of July from Kent's feet to yours.