4th of July 2013

We are not huge Independence Day people. My favorite holidays are Christmas and Thanksgiving followed by Halloween and Valentine's Day. I've just never really gotten into the 4th of July. I don't have any special traditions for the day. But I guess it is never too late to start.

Lucy has really been into learning about the calendar. She loves to see the next event coming up and knowing what she has to look forward to like family birthdays and the holidays. I've been making an extra effort to send birthday cards to cousins living out of town. Since she is old enough to know what is going on and enjoy things more, I'm making an effort to make things special for her so we can create lots of fun memories.

This year for the 4th of July, we didn't make a huge effort but we actually woke up a little earlier instead of sleeping in to participate in our neighborhood parade and breakfast. Everyone meets up at the local library for the flag ceremony and then walks to the park for breakfast. People are encouraged to decorate their bikes and wagons and strollers. Fortunately for me, my friend Marnie bought lots of decorating supplies for her kids and shared them with Lucy so she could decorate her bike. I pretty much sat and chatted and held Grey while Marnie did all the work. She even bought Lucy and Aeli matching shirts and made matching headbands for them.

Here is Lucy in her new, matching shirt and "P-Day" shorts (as Brandon nicknamed them - they actually are part of a matching Boston Red Sox outfit that her Uncle Chris gave her), and her red glitter Target shoes. And of course, her birthday bike decorated not by me at all.  

Do you like the cupcake liners on her training wheals. I wish I actually used those to make cupcakes instead...

We decorated the stroller to the extent that it was already red...meaning we didn't decorate it at all. And I put Grey in a red onesie and navy pants. Aren't we so patriotic? He fell asleep on the walk from the library to the park and Brandon and I were able to eat our pancakes in some peace. However, I pride myself in our breakfasts at home so this giant community breakfast didn't really satisfy me. It's hard to compete with real maple syrup on your pancakes but at least we had some fun company of the whole neighborhood.

And Brandon, in his standard gray t-shirt and khaki shorts. There is a little blue in his sneakers, I guess.

Usually the one behind the camera, I had on a navy shirt and jean capris with a red scarf around my neck which Emily made fun of me for. We had a barbeque at Adam and Kim's house that afternoon and the girls had a blast playing together and swimming in the pool but I didn't get any pictures. Maybe someday, we will do a little more for the 4th but our level of effort this year was just fine for me.

Meanwhile, my cousin, Megumi from Japan who now lives in Utah really embraced this American holiday and she is not even a citizen! Check out these pictures she posted on facebook. She is actually one of those people who sees an idea on Pinterest and does it!

I'm in awe. Someday...maybe I will have a strawberry patch and raspberry & blueberry bushes by that time so I don't have to spend a small fortune on patriotic colored fruit. Or when my kids are old enough to help me instead of helping me now.

That night, we mooched off some fireworks that our neighbors bought (the Jacobsens and Jonssons) and watched them set them off in their backyard. I recommended that next year, that a bunch of us neighbors contribute money to buy a whole lot of fireworks to watch together. Lucy is terrified of holding sparklers so I didn't get any pictures of her holding one. She also kinda isn't crazy about the noise of fireworks in general either. Grey and Brandon stayed home.