A Rainy Fourth

In contrast to many of the Fourths that we've celebrated during the past decade that have been sunny and hot, today was rainy with temperatures only in the mid-70s.  That's OK: the rain that poured down this morning and early afternoon was great for the garden and will make my task of weeding flowerbeds much easier; and by evening when the downtown parade was scheduled, the rain had stopped, and we got to go to the celebration after all--something I had warned my children might not happen.  As accustomed as I am to shepherding six children, I wasn't up to doing that in the rain, especially with lightning and thunder in the forecast, just to go to a parade.

But as it turned out, the weather cleared, and off we went, meeting up with some friends to enjoy the parade together--a scene repeated in thousands of towns all across our country today.  A small-town Fourth of July parade stirs my emotions more than you might think.  Or maybe not, if you know me well and are already aware of how easily my emotions can be stirred.  ;-)

Here are some cell phone pictures to document the occasion...

Even Benjamin got to fly the flag!  :)

It's possible that this monster truck was the highlight of the parade for at least a few of the spectators in my group.  :)  We had certainly never seen one that high before!

But Tobin preferred the horses.  :)

And of course, we had to have a word with our favorite officer when the parade was over.  ;-)

It felt like the parade was over so quickly, and we still wanted to be with our friends Amanda, Hannah, and Dean, so we all went to Dairy Queen; free ice cream for some of the group from the library summer reading program made that a good choice.  :)

Benjamin is such an imitative boy.  In his vocalizations and in his actions, he is quick to copy what those around him are doing.  And so, Amanda got him to wave goodbye--well, it was really a whole-body wave on his part.  He did it over and over, back and forth with her.  As it turned out, when I started recording, he did it once, then got distracted; but right at the end of the video, he did it again.  We got such a kick out of watching him.  :)

And then we came home, ate quesadillas, and watched the movie Inside Out.  Wouldn't you know, I DIDN'T cry during the movie!  Must be something wrong with my tear ducts.  ;-)