More on the 4th

The 4th was a good day to celebrate our country's birthday, with weather that was about as perfect as it gets. Everett got up on time to get the tractor and trailer to the church so it could be decorated for the parade. The people in charge did a good job as usual, and they gave out freeze pops along the parade route. They seem to be a big hit for the kids and adults alike. Last year we gave out 3,000 I believe!

I did not wake up so early!! It was 8:20 when I reached consciousness, and then I realized I had to keep moving if I was going to meet Joel, Brenda and Emma in Ada. I made it by 9:30 and found a good parking spot behind Ada Reformed and met them in front for the parade. It is a fun time to visit with people that you usually only see at the parade. We had good seats, and even though Emma was not sure about all the flying candy, it did not take her long to realize how it worked. Soon she was sitting right on the curb, stuffing her bag with all the candy she could get her hands on. She ate more than Brenda and Joel wanted her to eat, but that is what holidays are all about.

It was a long parade this year, and we were beginning to wonder if Everett was ever going to come by, but he finally made it toward the end. After the parade we walked to the area set up with lots of fun stuff for kids, and then many booths where people set up to sell their crafts. When Everett made it back from church with the tractor and trailer, we called Brenda to find out where they were. Soon we were looking for lunch. The choices were, brats, hot dogs, Chinese, or pizza. We had brats, Emma a hot dog. They had it set up quite efficiently, so it did not take too long to get food. About noon, I left for home and started getting the food ready for our evening on the boat, and Emma took a nice nap. Actually we all took a nap, so we were all rested up by 4 when we left the house to launch the pontoon in Ada. It all worked so well, and we had a great time of relaxing and enjoying the beauty of the river.We tied the pontoon up to a tree, as the water was at 11 feet, compared to 7 feet last year, and the anchors did not hold the boat. Once we were tied up we took out our picnic supper and enjoyed good food and fun. On the way back Emma was occupied the whole time with putting water from my water bottle into a little cup and throwing it in the river. It does not take much to keep little people busy and happy.

We were home by 7, and then at 9:30 we left to watch fireworks. I wanted to go to the local fireworks the night before, but Everett did not feel like it, so we ended up driving a lot further last night and the show was not too great. We both decided it would be better to go see the fireworks close by next year.

Today Everett painted the last coat of paint on the basement walls, so it will be quite soon now that we get that put together, so the grandkids will have their play area back. We are all looking forward to that.

I got a lot accomplished in the house, and it was great. I also got a call that Mom had fallen out of her lift chair this morning. She got the remote, put the chair up and thought she could walk to the bed. It is so hard to have her do that and then get all bruised. She also fell out of her wheel chair a few days ago, and bruised her head and knee then too.