All The Fun Things

We had a fun Independence Day. We slept in until 10:00 and then got ready to head up to my brother Ben's house to join in his hometown's festivities. We hit the craft fair first and I found a great floral arrangement at an awesome price for my front room. (But I don't know how it looks in my house yet, I left it at Ben's!)

Then we went around outside and looked at all the vendors' booths. We weren't in the market for a lot of the wares, but we let Isaac "go fishin'" about 8 times in the fish pond. He wasn't interested at all in the prizes - which is understandable since they looked like someone had been saving every Happy Meal toy for the last 8 years - but he was intrigued with the mechanics of putting that bent nail into the hook on the wooden fish. He caught a couple on his own and then resorted to hand fishing. After picking up some BBQ pork sandwiches we walked out to Main Street for the parade.

I don't know what it is about parades but I get really excited watching them. I often yell "Yay" and even a few "Whahoo"s. I time it well though letting my excitement escape just as those who are tossing candy to the kids are passing. I'm a sucker for free candy! Last year I was 6 months pregnant but that didn't stop me from elbowing the youngsters competing for my salt water taffy! Not that I need any more candy at my house, I have an entire bucket full. And that is not an exaggeration.

By the time the parade ended we were all pretty hot, so Ben let us into his house to cool off. We hung out for a while and Isaac played with the dog. A big step for him. A week ago he would have been screaming his little head off just at the sight of Judah - the schnauzer. But we've been working on that with him.. but I digress...

We left their house in the early afternoon so that we could get home in time to entertain Jeremiah's dad and brother. Since I hadn't planned on feeding company and had no meal ideas handy we stopped at good old Wal-Mart and picked up some fried chicken and potato wedges. I also made a pasta salad - so what if it was from a box - and Brent brought some strawberries. I made some pink lemonade and I must say the whole meal hit the spot.

Jeremiah and Brent set up my swamp cooler too. Boy am I thankful for that thing! After they were all done we headed over for the biggest fireworks display west of the Mississippi. I love watching the fireworks. I like to sit close enough to feel the vibrations from the explosions thunder in my bones. I couldn't help but think last night as I watched the show how thankful I was to live in a country where I could hear that many explosions in rapid succession and not fear for my life. I am so thankful for the USA! I know it has its problems but we are so blessed to live here! I can't help but tear up when I see that old Star Spangled Banner accompanied with the same titled hymn.

Anyway, after that we headed home. Jeremiah was so clever and got us home within minutes avoiding the usual traffic jams and detours. We sat out on the front porch and watched the neighbors across the street light off their own fireworks. It was just a fun day for us. The thing that made it best was that Jeremiah actually got to experience a paid holiday and not have to work! I'm really glad that we were able to spend the holiday together as a family.