Happy 4th of July!

Growing up, the 4th of July was a big deal at my mom and stepdad's house.  It's not as though we were fiercely patriotic or anything.  I mean, we loved America as much as the next guy, but we weren't the types to fly the flag every day or espouse the "love it or leave it" mentality.  But I guess the 4th of July was just fun because it was a low-key holiday that was about simple traditions and summer fun.

We always started the day at the local parade, where the firetrucks sprayed the kids with water and my brothers and I collected candy that the parade participants threw.  After that went to a nearby park for the post-parade festivities.  There were always contests, including the egg toss, where my stepdad and brother Tyler tried to defend their title as champions.  My favorite part of the post-parade festivities, at least in my middle school years, was getting to see the boys I liked, and flirt with them by smashing confetti eggs on their heads.

Sometime in the mid-afternoon we'd drag our exhausted bodies home to get ready for the next part of the tradition: dinner in the park (different park) and fireworks!  And then, as if we hadn't jam-packed enough fun into the day already, we'd cap off the holiday with a late-night trip to Farrell's Good Old-Fashioned Family Ice Cream Parlor.

Were we not just like a Norman Rockwell painting?

Except Farrell's went out of business--because their ice cream wasn't really all that good anyway--and then it became a Chinese dim-sum restaurant and then something else after that.  And the last year I remember going to Farrell's, I somewhat immaturely smashed my brother's head into a wall, and then mumbled out an apology to the entire group, which was capped off with, "I'm only saying sorry because my mom said I had to."

And all the boys I had crushes on washed the confetti out of their hair, and eventually found other women and men to marry.

Which is to say that it's fun to look at photos and tell stories and imagine a perfect Normal Rockwell life, but sometimes the messy details of what really happened are much more interesting.  You don't have to love every minute of it, you just have to hope that there is more good than bad.

Which sums up exactly how I feel about America.  I don't love everything about it, but the freedoms I have here have allowed me to have a life that is filled with more good than bad.  And ultimately, what makes our country great is that you don't have to love everything about it.  That's why I'm proud to be an American. 

As such, I try to carry on the spirit of my childhood 4ths of July and make the holiday festive around my house.  Yesterday I created a red, white, and blue flower arrangement:

And I liked it so much that you have to see two pictures of it:

This is a picture of my window.  As I said, we like to decorate with these gel clings because they entertain Leia, who likes to pull them down with her claws. 

Also, I ❤ Plants, rather than barren sticks with snow on them.

Here's Nathan in his 4th of July t-shirt that my mom sent him.  As you can see from the expression on his face, he is reflecting on the bittersweet nature of freedom, and the fact that freedom truly isn't free:

I made these red, white, and blue strawberries for a potluck:

Go see Ashley's version instead.  Hers are like 8 millions times cuter. 

I got a pedicure yesterday while in-laws babysat:

And I got a patriotic manicure:

 

And finally, a random pinwheel:

Who else remembers that little kids' show Pinwheel on Nickelodeon in the 80s?  "Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around/Look in my pinwheel and see what I found!"


Happy 4th of July!