Independence Day!

So…I’m twelve days late…

Our life never ceases to be hectic. A few weeks prior to the Fourth, Loran found out he would be headed to Brazil and Chile, leaving the afternoon of the Fourth. We were highly saddened by this news. Additionally, he wouldn’t return until the day after our anniversary. On top of that, it would be the longest business trip he’d been on. Reparations were going to have to be made…

Those reparations came in the form of being invited to come along for the Chile portion! Hooray. But, that still meant a few days apart and the Fourth to tackle on my own. Traditionally, we have a party at our house with lots of friends and family, food, games and fireworks. This year, that was all cancelled.

In the morning, while Loran was still home, we attended the annual children’s parade. Six blocks of rag-tag fun as the local neighbors and children all decked out in their red, white and blue – march, stroll, rollerblade, scoot and bicycle from one park to another. Culminating in feats of strength neighbor vs. neighbor in such games as: the peanut race and three-legged race. Attendees are nourished with watermelon and lemonade. It’s about as American as you can get. And fun!

As typical, I decorated our parade-mobile, this time, the Burley, minutes before we had to leave. I made use of some festive cocktail napkins I had on hand to make a patriotic banner. I was the MacGyver of bike parades.

The girls loved the parade and the festivities after. Loran participated in the peanut races and had a fine showing for his inaugural rookie season.

  

The girls had to join our neighbor in the “High Tower” as they call it. Otherwise known as the gazebo.

 

You would almost think there had been a neighborhood-wide memo prescribing all men to wear red shirts with khaki shorts, thereby making our gathering look like a Target company picnic…

After a walk to the fountain to splash in the water, we brought Loran to the airport and the girls were patriotically passed out in their car seats. I said a tearful goodbye, but knew I’d be seeing him at the end of the week, in Chile.

That evening, my parents, sister and her friend came over for some grilled food. We then loaded into my mom-mobile to secure and great parking spot due to my supreme knowledge of where you can and cannot actually park based on the somewhat confusing signage. I’ve never actually had to park for fireworks before. It was rather tempting to just park in my old yard. I mean, I technically still own it, but it seems like bad landlording…

Armed with glowsticks, snacks and loveys, I was ready for the wait for fireworks. Luckily, the girls were quite good. Lily just settled in and Ella hopped from lap to lap. Once the fireworks started, Lily was completely entranced. That girl really enjoys a good explosion. Ella was not in the same camp. She didn’t cry, but she wasn’t completely relaxed. She was on the edge the whole time, skipping from lap to lap, needing to be talked of the ledge the whole time. And of course, as soon as the show was finished, she asked if we could do it again…typical.

However, the neighborhood amateur fireworks that had been going off during the nights prior no longer scared Ella as they had the previous nights. I thought this newfound courage over things that go boom in the night would help her fall asleep. Nope. She was pumped up from the fireworks and was wide awake until midnight. Yawn.

So, while we would have loved to have Loran home with us for the entire day, we managed to have a fun time. Next year, the party is back on and I’m guessing two girls will enjoy the fireworks rather than 1 1/2. Or, Lillian will have used her trike to get to Wisconsin, pooled her birthday and Christmas money and invested in her own arsenal of things that go boom in the night. Only time will tell.