July 4 Memories

As Dave and I shared some favorite 4th of July memories with the girls, we realized the only consistency in our memories was that there wasn't much consistency.  Sure, some things repeat, but where we celebrate and who we celebrate with changes from year to year.  Last year, Dave watched his fireworks show over Chicago...from an airplane!  We've seen fireworks everywhere from the downtown bridges of Grand Rapids, MI to Shaver Lake, CA to the polo fields of Oakbook, IL.  For this 4th, we again embraced some new mixed with some of those standard 4th of July memories from childhood.

   

I remember decorating my bike with red, white and blue streamers and spending hot July 4ths riding around on it in all its patriotic glory.  This 4th, we took the girls to the church parking lot where Ella began her lessons in riding without training wheels.  No video to show you yet of things clicking and Ella taking off...but hopefully soon!  

 Another big part of 4th of July for us has always been the food.  The menu I planned was what I grew up eating each summer-- BBQ chicken, cold cucumber salad, corn on the cob.  I couldn't bear to turn our oven on in the afternoon's 108 degree heat, so we skipped the cake and just dipped our berries in cream for dessert! 

A parade, friends and fireworks make repeated appearances in our childhood 4th of July memories.  We hit all 3 in the evening.  We watched a small neighborhood "non-motorized" parade.  We went to a BBQ dinner at our school and loved being surrounded by a community of people we knew, hopping to three different tables to fellowship.  Then we spread our blankets and waited for dark.  This time may have been my favorite part of our 4th this year-- playing paddle ball and cards, practicing cartwheels in the grass and dancing around with sparklers.

It could be something totally different again next summer-- that's something I'm realizing is pretty cool about the 4th of July.  But, July 4, 2011 was one full of memories.