The Blanch Herd: Fourth of July Fun and Festivities

Our Fourth of July fun started off a couple of days early when Cal insisted on decorating her bike for the Eden bike parade. Tuesday evening (July 2nd) was actually a good day to get it done because we were in Providence on Wednesday evening for the annual Fireworks Party at my parents' house. There would have been no time to get it done then or on Thursday morning, the day of the parade, because everyone slept in after staying up so late the night before. Long story short, Cal was on to something. And it worked out perfectly! She had a plan of how she was going to put it all together and she and Sam executed beautifully on their bikes.

Sam's red streamers down his back are "fire shooting out!"

He was attempting to blow up a teensy little
balloon with his mouth and I didn't think it was
possible, but the man could do it!

My parents hosted their annual July 3rd Fireworks Party in their backyard again. We had a huge crowd, as it seems to grow each year as new friends and family and neighbors are added to the invite list. The sloppy joes were yummy, as were all the salads and desserts that everyone brought to share. And don't forget the homemade rootbeer! It's always a highlight. We had a fun addition to this year's program; usually my mom just reads her favorite John Adams quote while wearing her Uncle Sam hat, but this year my Aunt Kathryn proposed a family band and we did it! We played America Beautiful and it wasn't half bad, if I do say so myself. It has been a LONG time since I had played my saxophone, let alone with a group, so it was really fun for me. If not a teensy bit (okay, a lot) nerdy. The kids loved to snap poppers and light sparklers (their first time ever!) and I just have to share a funny story from my cousin about that: My cousin Christine (my mom's niece - this is important to the story) asked Sam if she could try one of his poppers. Sam said, pointing to my mom, "this very nice lady gave them to me, you can ask her!" :D We were having too much fun, so left for home way later than we intended and got to bed way past bedtime. But sometimes you just have to live a little. ;)

Sandbox fun with the cousins.

Goodness, I think he's cute!

My contributions to the dinner line-up were this fruit pizza
and Mexican Street Corn Salad (a la Our Best Bites).

Time for Mom's speech.

And strike up the band! (We were a bit rag-tag with no stands
and kneeling on the ground - haha.) Michael on snare, Tim
on tenor sax, Jonathan on trombone, Sierra on flute, Savanna
and Kathryn on clarinet, me on alto sax and Heatha on French horn.
A pretty good spread for a family group, eh?

bonus video!

"America the Beautiful"

(thanks to my cousin Amylinn for taking the video and sharing

it with me!)

Sparklin' Sam! (In his Rex White
and Blue shirt we bought earlier
this spring as a total impulse
buy. It's SO Sam!)

Cal loved the sparklers. But she
also got her first sparkler burn
on her finger, too.

It was fun to have Grandpa and Grandma
Blanchard join us for the party this year!

And Aggie, too!

Cousin pileup.

Cutest nieces!

Watching the "responsible adult figures" lighting the parachutes
and flowers in the street.

Grace requested this photo and I think it's cute!

With our late night the night before, the kids slept in (as much as they do) on the 4th of July. We actually had to wake Callie up right before 8:00, so we could head over to the park for breakfast and the bike parade. Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard and Aggie joined us for this morning, too. It was so fun to introduce them to our fun little local celebration. Breakfast was delicious, as usual. And the parade was cute and patriotic and quick. After it was done, we were visiting with neighbors and Cal was collecting her Capri Sun and we realized we couldn't see Sam anywhere. We started looking around the crowd at the end of the parade route, back around the tables, over at the playground. No sign of him. Just as we were starting to be worried, here he came back up the parade route. He had gone around again! (It's only three sides of a block in the first place, and he said he didn't know when to stop, so he just kept going!)

All decked out and ready to ride!

Some little fawn friends we spotted in the field on the way
to the park.

Callie had to show off her monkey
skills for Grandma.

Gathering all the kids at the power station.

They're so ready!

And they're off! (I never saw them again
since they're so speedy on their bikes and I
couldn't keep up just walking. Next year,
I'm taking a scooter!)

Here comes the parade from
Grandma's view.

Hi, Cal!

There's Sam!

Fur.

Same parade, Gregg's view this time.

All together again.

Riding under the Aggie bridge.

And that's a wrap - heading back home.

Showing off his standing pedaling tricks
for Grandpa and Grandma on the way home.

And the "flames" are flowing!

We just chilled at home after the morning festivities. Gregg gave the teardrop a coat of varnish. The kids played with toys. We read some patriotic books. We ate lunch and had naps. I worked on blog posts. We had pizza and watched Cabin Building. And the weather was tricky. The wind was blowing most of the afternoon. And then the rain started around dinnertime. We snuck out to the garage to do some sparklers and poppers out of the rain and cold. And then the sprinkling stopped and we rode bikes/walked up and down the street for a little while to get out some energy before bed. But did we got to bed like responsible humans? Nope! We turned on The Sandlot, changed into jammies, and snuggled on the couch till we heard the fireworks going on outside. Some were neighborhood fireworks, but then we found our spot on the front deck to watch the show in Liberty. Cal and Sam loved it! "We got to see real fireworks!!" There were 10 minutes left of the movie after the fireworks ended, so we finished that up and then got in bed. Sometimes you just have to live a little! ;)