Happy 4th

Yesterday was a very busy Fourth of July, filled with a parade, swimming, BBQ at a friend's house, and fireworks!

In the morning we went to a small town parade. How small was it?

--The most decorated float looked like it had taken merely an hour (maybe) to decorate.
--I had no idea who the Grand Marshall was.
--There was not one single high school marching band.
--The parade actually went down one side of the street, did a U turn, and came back down the other side! And we’re talking a fairly narrow street.

But everyone was decked out in Red White and Blue, and the kids, especially Cameron, had a blast catching all the candy, freeze pops and beads that were thrown to the crowd. Ella was basically catatonic, needing a nap so bad, as she sat in her stroller watching the scene. And Max was so excited that he forgot that he had to go to the bathroom until he was actually doing it in his pants (as Melvin was holding him!). I had no extra shorts to change him. But Max didn’t care. He told me, “That’s okay, they’ll dry in the sun, Mommy!”

At night we lit a few of our own small fireworks but were completely upstaged by our neighbors, who shot off the Wisconsin “illegals.” Which actually was great, because then I didn’t feel guilty that I didn’t cart my kids out to some overcrowded, bug infested park at 10 PM for the loud display of fireworks the city put on. We could actually see them, although far away, from our neighborhood. So we just chilled out on the curb and oooed and ahhed close to home.

But the best part of the day was that Melvin did not have to work and was available. It was so wonderful doing the “family thing” for an entire day.