The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays because I have so many happy memories of this holiday with my family. When I was little we would watch the Estacada city parade, which was actually a pretty decent parade for such a small town, and spend the morning eating flavored tootsie rolls, lemon heads, and crushed smarties. Then my Dad would BBQ and my Mom would make homemade rootbeer with dry ice. It was always exciting because dry ice was so mysterious and dangerous to my young mind. We would have strawberry shortcake for dessert and then we would go somewhere to watch the fireworks. I was always sad when the rootbeer was gone and the fireworks faded because it was such a fun day.

Now that I'm all grown up and live on the other side of the country, we didn't get to spend this holiday with family, but we had a year full of firsts instead. It was our first Fourth of July living in Virginia, Isabelle's first Fourth of July, her first fireworks and her first time in a pool! And it was sort of like my first Fourth of July with Matthew because last year we canceled our plans while I spent the evening nursing a serious case of morning sickness. It really goes without saying that this year was so much more fun!

We started our day by attending a breakfast and flag raising ceremony at the church. We sang patriotic songs, watched the scouts raise the flag, and celebrated our amazing country, followed by a pancake breakfast and mingling with friends while Isabelle napped. I am grateful that we live in such a wonderful country, that my children will grow up in a safe place full of opportunities. What an incredible blessing.

Anyhow, then we went home and prepared to take our little lady swimming. I was so excited for her first dip in the pool because she loves bath time so so much, but honestly, she didn't care about the pool at all. This baby of mine is so relaxed, she did not even react to being swished around in the water. She was just as happy and good natured as she always is. Even though she was not as excited about the water as I had hoped, we still had great time together.    

  

We finished our fun day with good food and great conversation with some friends and watched the fireworks from their balcony. We had a great view of the Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial and when it got dark it seemed like we were eye level with the fireworks. I absolutely love fireworks! It was probably the best firework show I have ever seen.