Happy? Fourth

Hello,

The days just fly by and I find myself falling further behind in posting. I hope you all had a good Fourth of July holiday. 

I'm going to vent a little about ours. It was good, but we plan to try something different next year. Chuck and I got our chairs down to our usual intersection at 7am after they blocked off the streets. Got a good spot in the shade. At 9:30 all three of us came back down and settled in to people-watch while we waited for the parade to start. We're just two blocks from the beginning so we get to leave while it's still winding it's way through the streets. It's the perfect spot.

Not long after, a police officer came up and told us all that we would need to move our chairs because that part of the intersection was being used as an emergency exit. It never had been before but okay, we definitely understand. We moved our chairs over closer to the sidewalk, but still got to be 'in the street.' With the intersection now empty, we had a big, clear view toward the start, and of all the participants as they would come down the street!

What we didn't know was that he was going to allow people to stand in the intersection. No chairs allowed. Oh. As it got closer to start time, there were so many people that crowded into that space we could only see directly in front of us.

And there were so many kids! We've been at that spot for many years and have never seen so many. Then we hear a dad ask his kids, "Why are we here?" 

"Candy!!"

"And why are we at the front of the parade?"

"Because they haven't run out of candy!"

"That's right!"

So many of the kids had bags that they would fill, like Halloween. One girl even went out to the street to a parade participant and took the candy right out of her hand! 

It was different.

We had the usual participants:

  Some fun ones:

And a few that made you grateful:

And the horses. They're always a favorite!

But this year I would say 85% of the entries were promotions for local political candidates, or shops, or businesses. It was just one big commercial. 

Plus, in 2020 our town decided to stop doing the big fireworks show so you leave the parade and that's that. We've always loved celebrating July 4th in our town but this year was just meh. 

I did make our usual jello dessert. Diana even made it for Adelaide this year. She called it her 'wibbly wobbly.' 😄

I do want to acknowledge the victims of the Texas floods. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by them. I can only imagine what those families are going through.  

Jello, Storm Troupers, Gratitude

We had a quiet Fourth. Chuck, Beth and I went to the parade, then came back here for ribs and caesar salad. I love to people watch so waiting for the parade to start is so relaxing to me!

 

The color guard, the veterans in their uniforms, and the group that carries signs of those who were lost in the last year, I get emotional every time. I'm so grateful to have been born in this country.

 

 Beth's favorite part is the Star wars characters. She was telling the strangers seated next to us about her hat. As she points to it she's telling them, "I wore my hat!" They were silent for a few seconds and then, "Oh yeah! That's really nice!" Then she points to the characters. She even yelled at them, "I wore my hat! My hat!!" She absolutely loves them!

 

  After lunch we had our traditional Fourth dessert - jello and whipped cream. we've made this since our girls were little. Our town didn't do fireworks this year so we watched them on TV. Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

 

 

How The Girls Did It

All weekend the girls were sending us pictures. This is how they did the 4th of July ~

Peter is working in St. Croix for the next few weeks so Diana went with him. St Croix!!

And Sharaya - her and Ally went to the river with friends. Floating on the river for hours, making blackberry cobbler...

They sure know how to do it right!

Fourth of July Photo

I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Empty Nesters

I checked the birds nest again the other day and they were all piled inside! Mama Bird was sitting on a wire waiting for me to get into my car and drive away.

 

Then yesterday we headed out to the parade and I peeked into the nest...

 

Gone! I'm so sad! But hopefully Mama Bird will be back next year.

Sharaya and Allie spent the 4th with friends on Treasure Island just north east of Tacoma yesterday. Diana is, of course, in Pennsylvania so it was just Chuck, Beth and I at the parade. Edmonds is a city of about 42,000 people but downtown, in the heart of the city they put on a small-town parade and we love it! 

We went down the night before and set out our chairs and each year it fills up earlier and earlier. But we found a good spot and staked our claim!

Beth and I happened to be at the porta potties when it started but we were able to cross the street and get back to our seats in just a few minutes. Whew!

There were the cutest little cheerleaders!

Of course, when it's a small town parade, you tend to know a lot of people in it. We have friends who are very involved in theater and they drove the truck and their kids handed out candy.

Our church has a men's residential aftercare program and they march every year.

The lady walking toward us is Cheryl, Beth's BFF.

When it got too warm, Beth would pull out her fan!

The Seahawks fan bus played some awesome music that everyone was singing along to. Even Beth!

 See her hand?

Yeah baby, she was jammin'! :)

Actually she really did begin to swing her shoulders and bob her head, she really got into it!

 

But I think her favorite part was the Star Wars characters! 

One of them even came over to talk to her but was too close for me to get a picture. She was pretty excited!

Then we came home, fixed burgers and had our usual jello and whipped cream for dessert. Red, white and blue of course!

I hope you had a great day celebrating our nations birthday!

Life Lately

The baby birds have hatched!

June 24 

June 29

 

July 1

They're already outgrowing the nest! 

 We have a cherry tree in the backyard and it's definitely harvest time! I've tried for years to keep the birds and squirrels out of it by using foil strips and CDs but nothing worked. This year we put a large net over it and that did the trick! Now there are SO many cherries, we're out there every day crawling under the net and plucking them off the branches. That little tree is a lot of work but the cherries are SO good!

 Beth and I made cookies the other day. We had every intention of sending some to Diana but we only made one batch and then gave some to Sharaya and Allie and we ate the rest! Sorry Diana! We bought more chocolate chips today and we'll try again! 😋

 

Seattle has had weeks of gray skies and drizzle. We are so ready for warm temps and sunshine and as anyone who lives in Seattle knows, summer officially starts on July 5!

Happy Independence Day!

One In a Million - The Weekend in Pictures

 

On Friday Diana and I took Allie to the beach.

 

 

 

 

I bet the streets of our home town looked a lot like the streets of yours on Saturday!

And like the streets of a million small towns across America this weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

Did Captain America come to your town too?

 

 

 

 

Sharaya drove and Diana & Allie rode in a car from the dealership they work for.

It's hard to tell, but they're in there! :)

 

 

 

 

The view from our seats!

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Sunday, Beth offered to take us out to her favorite restaurant, Old Country Buffet.

(She calls it Pass The Plate.)

 

 

 

 

Chuck, Beth and I had this morning off (Monday) so we went out for yogurt and then down to the water front for a while.  

 

 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!