Independence Day 2013

[This has GOT to be a new Pickles record -- me posting about something that happened on the SAME DAY!]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little blue this Independence Day.  It's hard to be excited about celebrating our country when our freedoms are slipping away one by one, and I feel completely powerless to stop it.  Still, I hope it's not too selfish to say I'm still grateful I live in this country and have the freedoms I do enjoy.

One thing which helped restore some of my faith in humanity was attending the 4th of July parade in downtown Fairfax again this year.  What a fun parade that is!  All marching bands and local elected officials on cars and homemade floats and the occasional giant balloon and horses and scouts marching and a capella singers and bagpipers and Bolivian dancers, and everyone waving and clapping and smiling.  It's good to see other people glad about living in the community we do.

Thankfully it never got hot -- there were ominous clouds passing overhead the whole time, but it never rained -- they only served to block the worst of the sun's heat.  And there was a lovely breeze which made the shade very pleasant.  Andy and I had a good time sitting under our tree.

yankee doodle boy!

We didn't make it to the pool this afternoon, and great was the sound of lamentation.  But I turned on the sprinkler in the front yard so the kids could run through it, which was fun for a while, and then later after I bleached out the kiddie pool (since it had been a mosquito breeding ground from not being emptied after the last big rainstorm, ew), the kids splashed around and got even more soaked until the sun started going down and they got cold.  So the afternoon wasn't a total loss, in their opinion.

Mr. Pickles grilled shish kebabs with steak and chicken and peppers and squash, oh my.

 The kitchen elves helped prepare a classic patriotic dessert.

We'll work on studying the composition of our country's flag another time.

how many states is that?

 Since our local park had to cancel their fireworks a couple years ago due to budget cuts, we have to make our own fireworks display.

ready...  set...

...RUN!

 

the requisite sparklers

No one got burned this year, yay!  Some dudes across the street were shooting off big fireworks that threw flares and stuff pretty high.  My personal "favorite" was the one that shot up and launched a parachute, which floated gently down to the ground... with a burning ember attached.  I was grateful there was no wind, otherwise that thing would have landed in a tree, or better yet on someone's roof.  We went in after that.  We still have several firecrackers left, so tomorrow night it's going to be the Fourth of July, part two!

Happy Independence Day, everyone!