Happy Fourth of July!

We had ours yesterday.  Our July 4th celebration, that is.  On the 3rd.  Because the Fourth, in our little one stop-sign community, is the big, blow-out event of the year -- a twelve hour celebration that begins at 10 am, with the longest parade in the world, (that I've ever seen, anyway) and ends around 10pm with fireworks.  And around here, if you scheduled a parade on Sunday morning, no one would come (and all the church pews would be full of grumpy people).  Thus, the Fourth on the Third.

You wouldn't want to have an emergency around here on the Fourth (Third), since every community for miles around has all their emergency vehicles in the parade.  And after them come all the pick-up trucks, all the old cars, all the '70's cars, all the church youth groups, all the families who could procure flat-bed trucks on which to arrange great-great granny in a rocking chair with four generations surrounding her, all the tractors and combines, all the politicians and aspiring politicians, all the riding lawnmowers and ATV's (this year they weren't technically allowed, but they progressed, engines running, on flat-bed trucks), and all the horses and motorcycles from all the little communities for miles around.  It is quite the parade.

And after the parade, the festivities begin at the park across the street. 

There are bands and singing groups in the bandstand, professional wrestling, organizations selling fair food of all descriptions, raffles for quilts, etc., and then, after lunch, there are the children's games.

Travis and Katie should have been in different age categories, but Travis told Katie that she could pass for nine and team up with him, and no one was checking id's.

Here is Katie in the sack race (in the blue shirt)

and Travis in a red shirt (his sack had a hole in it).

Here they are at the beginning of the wheelbarrow race.

Katie doesn't have much upper body strength,

but Travis got her across the finish line anyway.

And then the three legged race.

They didn't fall until they'd crossed the finish line!

And finally, the egg toss.

I think the woman beside Travis is telling him to back up.  If so, she might have done better to leave him alone, because...

Katie tossed crooked and hit the girl standing beside Travis right in the face.  Travis found this hilarious, and, fortunately, the girl took it in good part.

After the games, our friends started to show up. 

We have such talented friends!  These children played and sang beautifully for more than twenty minutes (filling much more of their half hour slot than I had expected they would), until finally the boy in the middle couldn't take any more and kicked his brother in the foot as a subtle sign that it was time to Finish the Song Already.  We were so proud of them.

And then it was time to play in the pool and eat. 

More friends arrived, and the grown-ups spent the rest of the afternoon and evening eating and talking, while the kids alternated between the pool and the entertainments across the street. 

 Then we all watched a really excellent fireworks show from our front yard, and the day was done.  It was really a glorious Fourth/Third!

And these are pictures from last week...

Travis made this tapdancing fellow to amuse me when I was a bit down in the dumps.  If everyone had a Travis there would be no market for Prozac.

And Harry, teaching grammar...

With that malevolent glare on you, would you dare mistake an indirect object for a direct?   I didn't think so!