Independence Day

When I remember the huge July 4 celebrations we used to have when I was little, ours the past few years are quite tame by comparison. But this year I was determined to celebrate, even if on a small scale...as last year we were in the middle of crisis and didn't do much of *anything*.

We ran errands with Mamoe (she still can't drive), and then I came home and actually *cooked*. That was somewhat of a celebration all in itself of late! :-) I did hamburgers on the indoor grill, cooked red, white, and blue potatoes (on sale for 50 cents a bag at Wal-mart, and they turned out *great*), and made not one but *two* desserts. (My family had forgotten I knew how to cook desserts...living in survival mode for so long had lost the Dessert Queen her title long ago. :) The kids really liked the strawberry jello poke cake I made, and Billy is still raving about the cobbler I made from a recipe I found at Meredith's blog . I made a cherry one for the 4th, and I'm planning to try a peach one next. It was *really* yummy!

Then we went downtown for the fireworks. This is where I must insert that I have the *best* husband in the *entire* world. He *hates* crowds and isn't at all fond of fireworks (too many years working in the hospital and seeing fireworks injuries...) Our original plan, because the kids were *so* disappointed when we didn't go down to see the fireworks last year, was for me to take the three big kids and go downtown, while he and Gracie stayed home. Then over the weekend he said, "I'll go with you guys downtown if we can do what we did that year with your dad and just park in a parking lot somewhere and *watch* the fireworks from the van (i.e. have no involvement whatsoever with the crowd.:)) That was fine with me...I was just excited that he wanted to go! Then as we were leaving to go downtown, our good friends called and said they were on their way down, too, and did we want to meet them down there? We ended up in the *middle* of the *worst* of the crowd...there was a carnival-type thing set up that our church youth were helping with...and that was where we finally settled. The kids had a great time seeing people from church and watching the dunking booth, etc....I had a good time chatting with friends and taking pictures....and poor Billy just endured for the rest of us! He is so wonderful, and we are so blessed to have a husband/dad who works so hard to make us happy...even when we don't ask! (At one point, Ammah Grace was on his shoulders and I heard him say "Wow. Those fireworks are really incredible." I looked up and realized she had his face completely covered with her fan. :-D Our friends started laughing, and he said, "I hate crowds and now I can't even see the fireworks" in this perfectly *Eyeore* voice. I was good enough to take her fan away so he could at least *see*. :))

I was experimenting with the fireworks mode on this camera...always before I've taken my Canon T-70 and my big zoom lens, but I thought I'd see how this went this year. I need to play with it more, but they weren't *too* bad...


Oh! And I almost forgot. I wasn't able to get many pictures of the big kids...every time I tried all I could get was *backs*. :) But I *did* get a picture of this really cool *stretch truck* that Peter was completely fascinated with...

In the midst of all the shopping, snacking, and celebrating, we tried to focus on the reason for it all...our thankfulness for those who sacrificed so much for the sake of freedom, and our thankfulness to God for allowing us to live here.