America the Beautiful

So Joshua got to enjoy his first Fourth of July today, and it went off with a bang! Mom worked last night, so after she got home and fed the little man, she headed off to sleep, and we headed out to the neighborhood 4th of July Parade. Turns out they put on quite the parade.

We met the Dixon's and the Harveys for the festivities in front of the high school. Josh really seemed to enjoy all the pomp and circumstance, particularly the drum corps, the fire engines, and the cheerleaders (yeah!!). We also saw the new mayor, lots of dogs and red wagons decorated in red, white, and blue (including one Great Pyrenees spray painted the colors of the flag). Personally, I thought the most poignant moment was the portion of the parade where families of servicemen and women marched/rode by with giant posters of their loved ones serving overseas. That really puts the sacrifices so many have made for our freedom into perspective.

After the parade, we wandered down to the community center where an old-timers' brass band played patriotic classics and some good big band standards while we enjoyed snow cones and the first day in recent memory where the sun outshone the rain. I say we, but Joshua pretty much slept through most of that. After polishing off the snow cones, we bid farewell to our friends and headed home for some grub.

Once mom woke up around noon, we hung around the house, and Josh took a monumental nap. I guess the parade was more fun that he was prepared for. Nevertheless, once he woke up and had briefly entertained Ricci who was in town, we headed out to the first of two 4th of July parties.

We started out at the home of Scarlet, and Josh was an instant hit. Scarlet and I went to law school together, and she used to work with me. Even though we didn't know many folks there at first, Joshua proved to be quite popular, even among strangers. We had a great time and enjoyed such typical Independence Day fare as donuts, pigs-in-a-blanket, and Korean-style ribs (wow, they're good!). By way of explanation, Scarlet is Korean, and her parents own a kick-butt donut shop.

After the Oh party, we headed over to the Harveys for dinner with the Blaisdells and Palmers. As always, it was great fun hanging out with our neighborhood college friends, and Juleeta makes some mean fajitas and chocolate cream pie, complete with freshly whipped cream -- yummy! Joshua was a champ the whole evening. Finally, 5 1/2 hours after his last feeding, he decided he was hungry, so we returned home to wrap up the day. Even though it was only 8:00, we were all exhausted! What a great first Fourth of July, though. Hope all of yours were great, too!