How was your 4th?

We had a really nice fourth of July holiday this year. In the morning, Bern and I took Schwinks into Mount Dora for their annual 4th of July parade. The weather was great -- a balmy 80 degrees and sunny. The parade was sweet, very "Mayberry-esque" and maybe a bit dorky, but Elizabeth loved it. We saw the policemen, the firemen, the mayor, the sheriff, a variety of weird Mt. Dora clubs, and even the Mt. Dora highschool band. Each group smiled brightly and threw hard candy out to the kids. Elizabeth loved it!!! She loved waving her flag, she loved the music, she loved the decorated cars, trucks, etc., but most of all she loved the candy. And she got lots of candy. Just what she needed at 10AM.

We then came home where we met up with Wowee. We immediately all headed to the back yard -- with folding chairs, an inflatable kiddie pool, a couple of towels, a cooler full of beer, the dog and a radio in tow. We inflated Elizabeth's rather large blow-up pool (the blowing-up process took about 30 minutes -- ugh), but she spent the rest of the day splashing and playing and having a great time. The little girl from across the street came over and played in the pool with her.

So ... we adults sat under the umbrella in our folding chairs, listened to country music and drank beer all day while the dog ran around the yard and swam in the lake (with a look of pure doggie joy on her face) and the kids played in the blow up pool. It was a true redneck 4th of July and it was GREAT! There was a slight breeze and it was so nice under the shade of the umbrella.

At about 5 PM, we decided to pack up the pool, dry off the kids, give the dog a quick bath, and haul our junk back upstairs. We then had a picnic supper of sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad, fried chicken and watermelon -- all on throw-away Chinet plates. YUM!! And the clean up was a snap (loved it!).

When it finally got dark, Schwinks ran around the driveway with her sparklers (such a flashback to my childhood!) and I'm proud to say that no one was seriously burned in the process. She had a great time and thought that the sparklers were super-fun.

We ended the day sitting on the couch watching TV fireworks while listening to the Boston Pops and singing along to our favorite patriotic songs (we're such dorks ya know).

It was a wonderful holiday -- very relaxing and sweet. Wish you guys could have been here to share in all of the redneck fun. God Bless America!