Happy America Day!

Happy 4th of July! Today's colors are definitely red, white, and blue. Don't you love this holiday!? My niece used to call it America Day. I know I'm glad to be an American, part of this young experiment in democracy and independence, and I know that I'm blessed to have been born here. Really there aren't so very many opportunities to share that feeling and that fact (without political siding interfering) and to celebrate it with the community, so I really enjoy this day and all the crowds and fun.

My flag is flying on the house today. I always like that and my family has always flown the flag for the national holidays. I always wonder why more houses aren't flying the flag to celebrate today? Barbeques are great, and Seattle does an Awesome fireworks show later over Lake Union, but the heart of the holiday for me is flying the flag in the neighborhood and being proud and free to do that.

I went to my hometown Parade today! Went with my parents, my sister, her husband and MIL, and of course both of my nieces! But before that we went to the Pancake Breakfast at the nearby fire department. Yum!! The pancakes are hot, made by our firemen, and the kids are welcome to climb all over the fire engines and ladder trucks after munching on pancakes. My friend Fireman Dave showed the girls around the trucks. It was the first time Little Girl (age 1) had been in and around the engines and she was Ecstatic! Her eyes got big, a Huge Grin came out, she shrieked Oh Wow! (her newest language skill) and ran to a big red truck with her hands in the air to pat it and jump up and down and shriek some more --she was so excited!! Her older sister did nearly the same thing a few years back when she first encountered firetrucks. Litttle Girl stands about half as tall as the wheels on these trucks but she is In Love with them! And we all think Fireman Dave is pretty cool too!

Then we all went down mainstreet to find our places for the parade. To get front row seats folks set out chairs along the parade route the night before because the crowd gets several layers deep by parade time. Luckily we had chairs! Our parade runs through town from the post office to the football field, probably a mile and half or so, and the route is lined deep with people the whole way. And there are so many kids it's hard to figure where they all come from! Before the main parade there is a Kids Parade where all kids can participate. They decorate themselves, their bikes, their dogs, their wagons or even their parents, then waves and waves of them move down the paradeway, taking part in their own parade action and throwing candy to the crowd. It's also a big deal for the kids on the sidelines to gather as much candy as they can. Some collect more candy on the 4th than on Halloween!

I love the parade even though, or maybe because, its Hometown. It always starts with all the police and fire vehicles of all kinds coming through with all the lights and sirens going. Absolute Sound and LIght! And there is the summer marching band playing "Tequila!", the many decorated trucks filled with baseball team champs and boy scouts all throwing candy, the fancy cars and the military vehicle collectors. There are the Veterans and the Sons of Norway, the red hat society float, the cheerleaders and the clowns. Local drill teams, gymnastics groups doing flips and handstands the whole way, drum corps (I really loved Blue Thunder this year!) and of course some politicians. We have the Red Coats and the Revolutionary Militia holding a musket battle on main street and the rowdy Seafair Pirates shooting off a real (and LOUD) cannon from their well known ship-float while scraping their swords at the folks at the front of the crowd and handing out stickers after almost scaring the kids. Elvis even showed up this year to sing Heartbreak Hotel! It's long, it's chaotic, it's loud, its tiring, and you may be hit at any minute by flying candy, but the kids love it and there are lots of smiles and surprises. It's what we do!

And this year it was followed by home made ice cream and cookies back under the shady tree at my folks place.
All that and the day wasn't even half over!! Gotta love it! Now comes the Fireworks!!!

I hope you enjoy your own traditions to celebrate our country today. It's not perfect, but that's a discussion for another day. Today is about being together, and taking a moment to be aware that we all have some special things in common as Americans, and being proud of it. Happy 4th of July!