4th of July

I kind of love the 4th of July. I feel like since I became in charge of the holidays for my own little family, they have become a little less fun in some ways. I mean they are fun, but the expectations sometimes get in the way of really enjoying the day. Not so on the 4th of July! Who expects anything but fireworks from July 4? And those are pretty easy to achieve. And they are great! All the better if you have a town with a parade . . . and even better if it's a bike parade of kids who get to decorate their own bikes . . . and even better than that if you just happen to bump into lots of the people you always bump into around town that make you love where you live so much!

All that said, (and this didn't hinder the fun as make things funny), there were a few apparent lapses in planning for our dear hometown celebration. First, was the route of the bike parade. Keep in mind, most kids were in the 2-6 age range. The parade set off immediately up a probably 15% grade rocky road, at the top of which was a concrete construction barrier you had to wheel your bike through the grass to get around. So, of course, the parade was more of a push, for parents, of their kids cycles up the hill. The family in front of me had 3 kids, one being pushed on a bike, another holding the hand of a parent pushing the bike, and one being worn in a baby carrier while the other parent pushed the second kids trike. How festive and patriotic! : ) But thankfully the course evened out after that and a good time was had by all.

After the parade, the celebration continued with a fire truck brought by the fire dept which opened up it's hose just a bit to spray out a huge amount of mist for kids to run through. Great plan! But this was definitely a case of ready, fire, aim! At first, the spray was directly at a power line. Thankfully it was a very strong and secure power line. This went on for 2 or 3 minutes before it was redirected to shoot right at a street sign and tree. The street sign did not look so strong and secure, but did survive. Finally they got it right and it was, wait for it,  . . .a blast!!