Fourth of July

What a grand day to celebrate the birthday of our country! The weather was about perfect for going to a parade; partly cloudy, a breeze, and cool temperatures. Everett left at 8:15 to bring the trailer to the church so it could be decorated with our VBS tribal banners, a tent and 3000 freeze pops for the kids in the crowd, plus some excited kids and grown ups. Joel, Brenda, Emma and I had a great spot across from Godwin Hardware. Emma enjoyed all the noise and people and would clap at the right times. She liked the dogs, horses and Papa driving his tractor, pulling the float.
After the parade we went to the craft and food booths, and hunted down Brett and Roxanne as they volunteered for the In The Image food booth, selling brats, hot dogs, chips and pop. We all ate brats and then went home so Emma could get her nap in.
About 3:15 Brett and Roxanne came over, and we all loaded what we needed for a pontoon ride on the river. It was a beautiful afternoon for the ride and Joel even tried out the new tube. All went along well, even though the river was LOW. We went toward Lowell, and turned around, going along just fine, until we hit the tree stump. Wow, it stopped the boat 'very quickly'. We accessed the damage, realized we had all hung on, and Joel was ok. We got the boat started again, and took off VERY CAREFULLY. It did give us a new appreciation that we were all safe. we soon stopped for our picnic supper in the shade of some trees. The food was delicious, but picnics are the best. We made it back to the landing and we all unloaded the boat and rode home in the trailer. Actually that was the peaceful part of the day. The fun and excitement was about to begin!
After everyone left we decided it would be a good time to get the boat out of the water, so Everett took the tractor to the river, and before I knew it he was back. Well the boat was not out of the river, but the tractor was in the river. He asked if I would give him a pull, so we jumped in the Envoy and drove back to the river, and believe it or not I pulled him right out. Well, now the tractor was out of the river , but not the boat, so he decided to take the boat down to the ramp in Ada. I met him there, and after at least 3 tries, the help of a young man, and repeated tries at getting the boat started, we finally got it on the trailer. It was a long day, but we got the boat home. Everett was mud splattered and very tired by 10 PM. It had been a good day.