Happy Birthday

Darren's parents came over at noon and spent the afternoon with the boys, decorating their bikes for the annual neighborhood parade. Meanwhile, I finished painting the desk furniture (yes, Nancy, it NEEDED to be done) and cleaned my scrap room in preparation for my next job. Yay! Two things marked off my list! :)


At 7, we walked down to the "the triangle" and watched the kids ride round and round in the neighborhood 4th of July parade. Last year, we pulled them in the wagon, but this year, they were big enough to ride their bikes. They were precious. Aidan zoomed around and around, grinning from ear to ear everytime he passed us by. Ian, distracted by the marching band -and the dogs, and the other kids, and the flags - kept riding off into the curbs. LOL! Afterward, we walked down to a neighbor's house (who happens to work at Darren's company) for a Popsicle Social. He and his wife host it every year after the parade. It was fun hanging out in their front yard with dripping popsicles, meeting neighbors and deepening our roots here. I love our neighborhood.

Once back home, we hopped in the car and high-tailed it across town to watch the city's fireworks with friends. We got there at dusk - about 9:00. Cara had a sack full of sparklers, which the boys thought were the coolest things they had ever seen. Sparklers are illegal in the city limits, and we were reminded of that when a policeman pulled up and kindly told us to put them out. Then he turned around and wrote tickets to the people across the street.


At one point during the night, Ian said, "Mom, why are we doin' all this stuff?"

"'Cause it's the Fourth of July," I answered.

"But why are we having all this STUFF?" he demanded.

"'Cause it's America's birthday. This is sort of like a birthday party for America."

"Then when are we gonna sing the birthday song?"

So, beneath the starry sky and the occasional burst of light from a rogue firecracker, we sang together:

"Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, America!
Happy Birthday to you."