Happy 4th of July

Yesterday was America's day, as we like to say in our house. It was a day to celebrate being an American. We tried to relax, like anyone would on this special day. We set up the slip n' slide and played in the sprinklers with friends. After the brief but crazy thunderstorm, we were left powerless for a few hours. We were lucky as I heard on the news this morning that there were still a few thousand people without power today. The rain, however, didn't put a damper on all the festivities. We still headed out for the "Roanoke Times Music for Americans" event after the rain subsided. It was a little quieter than usual, since the children's activities, like the bounce house were not set up. However, there were still food vendors, still live music, and there were still people set up on the lawn playing football and Frisbee. This was not the only 4th of July event this weekend. Fireworks shows started for some surrounding areas on Friday and ran all the way through Monday. Literally, if we wanted to drive around all weekend for fireworks, we could have hit up events each night.

We found a great little spot (I'm not divulging the secrets of our special spot that we want to continue using year after year) to see the show this year. There are so many places and the husband still says the view from the hospital must be amazing. We haven't tried watching it there, obviously, but from some angles you can see the fireworks reflecting in the windows of the hospital. This makes for a doubly exciting show.

If you wanted to catch the fireworks elsewhere yesterday, the Salem Fair had fireworks this year (something they haven't done for a few years). I didn't catch these, but I am sure the view from the rides was awesome.

I hope that everyone enjoyed this day as much as we did. There are moments that will become favorite memories to share years from now. I will never forget my youngest jumping and running when the first set of fireworks went off. He wasn't scare of the fireworks show and talked about how pretty and loud the fireworks were. It was just that initial set that startled him (since his back was to the show at the beginning). It will never get old to hear my oldest say, "Mommy, this was the best day ever!" Thank you to our soldiers for fighting for our freedom! Without their sacrifice and the sacrifices their families make, we would not have some of the luxuries that we do.