4th of July

Usually for the 4th of July, my husband's family goes to an empty field near the Balloon Fiesta Park to watch the fireworks without having to fight the crowds. Since Micah was born, however, we haven't done that because my early-to-bed, early-to-rise child just couldn't stay up late enough to enjoy the show. This year wasn't any different, despite my efforts. I even put him down for a late nap and let him sleep for almost three hours so he could stay up later, but by the time 7pm rolled around, he was rubbing his eyes and drooping in front of his cartoons. The moment his little head hit the pillow he was out. Oh, well.

We did get to enjoy the parade in our little village, though. It was a gorgeous day - partly cloudy, and enough of a breeze that the 90+ degree weather was tolerable. The smell of sunscreen and candy, the smell of summertime.



We got there an hour early because the two-lane road running down the center of the village shuts down when the parade starts. Micah sat in the front with me and watched the fire trucks and floats go by to get to the start of the parade, keeping up a running commentary about what people were doing and what they were carrying. He was fascinated by the lawn chairs and hats everyone had.





Grandpa Martinez came and parked next to us (in the driveway of the little blue house we used to live in, where Antonio's brother now lives), and he brought two lawn chairs that he put literally inches from the edge of the road so we could watch. Normally I have to reign Micah in for events like this, but he stood between my knees the entire time, wide-eyed and occasionally speechless. That's always surprising!







Once the "serious" floats pass by at the beginning of the parade (which lasted an hour and a half, crazy long!), everyone breaks out the squirt guns and start a war between the spectators and the people riding the floats. Every year, there's a group of people across the street from the little blue house that bring in huge tubs of water and these guns that have serious range and liberal showers. So not only did we get soaked, but so did Grandpa!

The rest of our day was pretty lazy. We went and got some lunch, came home, blew some bubbles, and then shortly after Daddy got home, Micah passed out. It was a nice day.



How was your 4th?