An All-American Holiday

We've had a scorching hot few days around here, but we made sure to not let the heat beat our plans for a festive, all-American holiday yesterday.  We celebrated our country's birthday in finest tradition - heck, we may as well have been riding a unicycle in a blue leisure suit with a red and white striped top hat because we were that festive.

There's always next year...  

We had s'mores by the fire and boat rides around the lake at sunset, waved at firetrucks and filled bags with candy at a small town parade, and cuddled up in our lawn chairs and watched some fireworks light up the perfect starry sky.  

Growing up in a town of around 1000 people, I've always been a sucker for small-town life.  The 'everybody knows everybody' mentality, friendly hospitality, and the pure enjoyment that comes from simple, quiet pleasures like a sweet corn stand by the side of the road, a street dance during a town celebration, and a fire hydrant hose cooling off a line of excited littles during one steamy hot parade.

Sure, small towns may lack some things - variety, diversity, Starbucks, and sushi, but if there's one thing they do up right it's summertime celebrations.  And although our town of Cedar Falls is small, quaint, and festive (Santa arrived to Main Street in a helicopter for crying out loud), there's something about bringing Cruz back to the traditions that defined our summers, our 4th of July holidays, that makes me feel like I'm really showing him what our lovely country is all about.

  

We did it up right the last couple of days, packing the car for what looked like a week and heading to both sets of grandparents for some fun summertime relaxation.  We did Tuesday at Grandpa Ray and Grandma Mary's house, and spent most of the afternoon on a quiet little beach at Beed's Lake in Hampton.  We built sand castles, shared Italian Ice, and paddled across the lake to Aunt Gina and Uncle Gabe's.  There, we got together for a lakeside barbecue, followed by a lakeside fireworks show.  Wednesday morning, we said goodbye to one set of grandparents and met my family in Shell Rock for their annual Shell Rock Days parade.  We caught candy, waved flags, and ended up at Mom and Dad's for a day of babies, toddlers, and food...  

...lots and lots of food.
 

Our holiday in photos...

 

Random woman Cruz befriended at the parade (he wanted a drink of whatever she was drinking (vodka) and was trying to impress her with his charm...

 

More photos to come - I was feeling a little camera happy :)