Celebrating America....Take Two....

Due to a complete washout on the 4th of July last week, thanks to our pal Tropical Storm Arthur, our town's parade and fireworks festivities were postponed until today (which actually worked out better for me, so I wasn't too disappointed about the delay). It has been years since I have been able to partake in these events, so I was excited I was able to do both today.

The morning started bright and early...early enough where I had to wake Hunter up in order to drag him along to the parade with me, but luckily a surprise of munchkins and chocolate milk for breakfast brought over by his Aunty Allie proved to be an easy wake-up call.  I remembered from my marching band days that the streets are typically packed for this annual parade, so we wanted to leave early enough to get a good spot.  We were able to luck out with some free parking and hunkered down a spot in the front row. As it turns out, the attendance was actually not too high this year (presumably because of the change in weekends) so we were standing around for a couple of hours for really no reason, but we still had fun all the same.

Hunter busied himself with his new Spider Man balloonish thing that his Aunty Allie was suckered in to buying from one of those "Carts Of Junk" guys. He had Spidey climbing up walls, flying through the air, handing out hugs....

The first section of the parade was made up of all different kinds of firetrucks and ambulances possible, each with their sirens blaring and their horns beeping while the heroes who drove them waved back at us enthusiastically

Hunter was in awe of what was driving past him, he just sat their waving with an expression of amazement on his face

For some reason, there ended up being a 45 minute lapse between these emergency vehicles and the rest of the parade, but time passed by rather quickly all things considered (plus it gave Bubs time to use the Potty...yay for a star on the chart, and yay for being out in public with no accidents!!)

Eventually the parade did start up again and we had fun cheering as everyone and everything walked past us. It had a bit of a political overtone as many of the floats and walkers represented candidates of one thing or another that wanted us to vote for them, but since they paid for a lot of the July 4thish festivities and they throw out buckets of candy at us, we didn't mind the occasional handshakes and "vote for mes".  A gentleman who stood next to us kindly told each candidate that he/she was going to win the election, and I rather enjoyed that positive reinforcement he offered out (whether it was true or not....I'm sure the candidates appreciated the words at the time).

We thought it was cool that a mini model of our new Church was featured in the parade

Hunter's favorite attraction......His girl Elsa  (of course if I new how to work my camera better I probably would have captured better photos, but at least there is evidence she was there)

Bubs continued to gaze at Elsa, long after she passed us....and even after she was out of sight...I eventually had to snapped him out of it

After the parade was over we headed back home for some lunch and a nap before the fireworks.  After refueling, we packed up a picnic dinner and headed back into town for the evening festivities. Again, we were surprised at how easy it was to find parking, and we got front row seating for the fireworks display as well. While we waited we ate our picnic dinner, listened to live music, and took turns running with Hunter so he could exhort some energy

Again, time passed by a lot quicker than I expected it to and before we knew it the sky was lit up with the lights and the booms of the fireworks. I know the idea of waiting 4 hours for a 15 minute firework display seems silly in concept, but it is something that I always feel is worth it in the end.  I love being in the crowd and joining the "ooo"ers and "aaaahhh"ers and cheering loudly during the grand finale.

Even though a week late, I am so glad we were able to still fulfill the tradition of making a spectacle out of the birthday of this amazing country.  Just listening to one story from a World News broadcast is enough to remind me to appreciate how good we really have it in this country.  It may have some imperfections, but it sure does beat living any where else.  To conclude, Happy Birthday America, hope you have another great year