Tradition!

As I reflect on our day yesterday, I have the chorus of the Fiddler on the Roof song Tradition running through my head. Happy memories come from traditions. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love fireworks and being with my family. More important though is the 4th of July is the celebration of the birth of the United States of America. I am deeply grateful for the sacrifices made by the men and women who founded our country and for the freedoms we enjoy in this country. I am grateful to be able to worship God according to the dictates of my own conscious as well as for the freedom to educate my children as I know is right for them. 
Yesterday we did all our usual 4th of July traditional things. We went to the parade in town. I love our little parade (which is actually a rather long and big parade). We got there extra early so we could grab a spot in a driveway when they closed the roads. We do this because 1-2 days before the parade, people in town drive downtown and start lining the streets with chairs. They tie their chairs into bundles and put tape across them to mark their spot. They hope those chairs stay until it is time for the parade. The driveways remain free though until the road closes, so that is where we go.
   
One of the highlights is the boat of pirates :) They shoot a cannon throughout the parade. They are part of the local celebrations that run all July. Strawberry covered her ears for the "Big Noisy" of the cannons.

Another hit is the old vehicles. This is an old trash truck. Love the kids in the dump!


I love fireworks. I used to go to any large fireworks display I could find. I had it all worked out in our old home in California with where to park, where to pitch our blanket, etc. so we could get out fast and avoid the traffic rushes. Here, I haven't even tried to figure it out. Thankfully where I live fireworks are still legal. We buy a few and then light them in our driveway. Even better than the few we buy though are the ones my neighbors buy. Last night we had a panoramic view of the sky in lights for over an hour! Some of my neighbor's fireworks rivaled public display in beauty and to top it off I got to sit in my quiet driveway with my family and then when we were done (there were still fireworks going off around us but had mostly died down) we took the kids inside to put them to bed.
   
Poor Strawberry did not like the “Big Noisy” and had her ears covered even before the bulk of the fireworks started. She decided to go to bed instead of staying up and watching the fireworks.