The 4th of July is one of our family's favorite holidays. We are so proud to be Americans, and love the principles America was founded upon! This year the approaching holiday was semi-anti-climatic because of last years amazingly adventurous Boston trip! It turned out pretty good though.
We began our day rising very early to stake our claim along the Summerlin Parade route. Luckily for us our good friend Lisa scoped some real estate for us very late the night before, because apparently arriving on scene at 7:30 am for a 9am parade is not early enough! (Thanks, Lisa, for your foresight!)
I grew up watching 4th of July parades in the small towns throughout central Utah. There, salt-water taffy was thrown from the tractor-pulled, glittering floats carrying beauty queens, town dignitaries and High School football teams. The fire department, police, and local Dairy Freeze owner marched too, and everyone in the county came out to watch. Although it lacked that comforting, small-town feel, this parade had some pretty cool floats in it, along with a whole slew of Star Wars characters, giant character balloons, and the obligatory marching band and dance groups. My favorite was the families of fallen soldiers marching and carrying life-size bust portraits of their loved ones wearing t-shirts that said, "Freedom Isn't Free". That is one of my favorite sayings and seeing their faces, as the crowd giving them a standing ovation as they marched past, brought tears to my eyes. THAT is the kind of stuff I love about my country!
After making our way home from the parade, Craig and I began the time-consuming task of preparing the Greatest Potato Salad in the World, which we had committed to bringing along with us to Amy and Mike's house later that night. Next Craig went to work to push payroll, while Carson and I watched a nature special about sharks! When Craig got home we all took a long afternoon nap before waking up and heading out to Amy and Mike's for the bbq.
At Amy and Mike's house we bbq'd steaks, ate dessert, and watched the firework show put on by Alliante Casino. It was a phenomenal view of a really good firework show; Amy and Mike's backyard backs up to the field right across the street from Alliante, which is where the pyrotechnicians staged the explosive boxes! We had to lay back and look up to see the show, and it was as if the fireworks were raining down over us! We got to chat with some good friends for a while afterward before calling it a night around 11pm.
It was a perfect, low-key, family 4th- hope yours was equally enjoyable!
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