Auds & Allie: 4th of July

12 July 2011

4th of July

Every year my husband mopes because we don't have big plans for the 4th of July. And every year I remind him you have to make big plans for a major holiday more than 2 days in advance.

Growing up my family always went to my Uncle's pond for a family reunion on the 4th. And at night, we rarely went anywhere to see fireworks outside the banks of our farm yard where we'd sit in our lawn chairs and watch the local displays from a distance. Jeremy had traditions too that included joining others for a festival and fireworks.

There is no festival here and my reunion no longer exists. So it seems we need a new 4th of July tradition. Last year we went to Indy on the 4th and after the zoo and a nice meal were too tired to watch fireworks and headed home.

This year, I found a few local things to do, including a parade and fireworks. I figured with naps in between and grilling out for supper, we could call ourselves American. Especially if we ate apple pie.

We went to a local parade, caught lots of candy, got burnt, saw 150 antique tractors and came home. Audrey then went to play at Avery's house in the sprinkler. Grandmother and Grandpa came by to tell us about their bicycling vacation and we visited on the new pergola-patio. Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Brats, Watermelon and Brownies is how we celebrated before heading to the fireworks. (2 kids under 4= no apple pie)

Again, a local firework show in which we didn't have to fight lines of traffic for hours was perfect. After all, it was only a 50/50 chance that Audrey would even last 5 minutes. She hates loud noises. And all afternoon she was too scared to come outside while the neighbors were shooting off ground fireworks. We were pleasantly surprised that by the time we got to he park, spread out our blanket and got out our kettle corn she was excited to see the fireworks and not bothered at all by the noise. She even clapped. It was nice. Just the four of us.