4th of July, 2009

The 4th of July is starting to become one of my favorite holidays. I think it's because it represents summer and we seem to actually manage to celebrate it in a way that doesn't feel like a lot of work. We were at home this year, and as a result got to get back to a tradition we missed last year....the neighborhood parade.

Now I've been to small town parades before, and that it is not...you have to think smaller, but just as spirited. The first annual Randi Park neighborhood parade was in 2005, the first summer in our house. It all started because our neighborhood had lots of new young families moving in and we were unique in that our entire neighborhood is 4 small streets. That's all. So we thought the parade would be a good way for people to get together and get to know one another. And thus, the neighborhood parade was born.

This was the parade's 5th year running and each year it seems to grow and evolve. This year was no exception. We probably had 75+ people participate. Everyone met at 9:30 a.m., the kids with decorated bikes or wagons, grown-ups with decorated Harley's and cars and trucks and everyone in patriotic colors. Then we paraded around the neighborhood. Sometimes we were greeted with waves and cheers from people on their porches but we had a great time getting a little exercise and talking to new and familiar faces along the parade route. Here are some highlights.

The finish this year was at our house, where Cheri had made some yummy treats for the neighborhood and we had rented a bouncy house for the kids to enjoy.

We spent the day swimming and relaxing by the pool and then later that night some of our neighbors joined us for a BBQ complete with apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream. The boys were fully in the spirit, learning the finer points of baseball (the ultimate American past-time) before we headed off to watch the Fireworks. Makes me very thankful for all of our friends and neighbors...who are one in the same.