We started off our morning by going to the parade and street festival in downtown Greensboro. Parking was really easy and we arrived just in time for the parade to start and still got a decent spot on the street. We were very happy with ourselves! The parade started off great. They had a few people dressed in revolutionary war uniforms. Some were playing drums and fifes. Others were carrying rifles with bayonets. It was very patriotic, especially after just having visited the Battleground site last week. The grand marshal of the parade was Joey Cheek, gold medalist in speed skating. That was pretty cool. He was so much smaller than I pictured. I realize he's not a football player, but for some reason I picture all elite athletes as being big and buff. He was very average height and skinny. Huh.
The kids were really enjoying the parade. There were a couple of floats that threw candy. Brandon, of couse, was WAY into that and throwing elbows to beat the other kids to it. He even shared a couple of pieces with Whitney who had no chance of getting any.
Near the end of the parade, there was a whole section of protesters marching in the parade. They were anti-Bush, anti-war, and Andrew says anti-American. They were very in-your-face, doing chants and cheers about Bush and blood for oil, etc. It really put a whole damper on the parade. Andrew was mad about it and says he's going to write a letter to the organizers of the parade and that we're never going there for a 4th of July parade again. At first I told him, "That's one of the great parts about living in a free country, honey. You can express your opinions, whatever they are." But the more I thought about it, the more I decided he was right--that was not the time or place for those type of protests. All of us spectators were there to celebrate patriotism and we had all these veterans riding at the beginning and then it ended on such a negative note. That was too bad.
Anyway, after the parade, we walked around the street festival for a while. They had a little children's section that was really cute. We would've stayed longer if the kids were sweating so much. They had a little maze made out of cut-up cardboard boxes that our kids loved! Not only could you go exploring through it, but they had several buckets of paint placed throughout that the kids could go crazy with. Whitney could've stayed there all morning. It was so fun to see her letting her creative juices flow. They did a few other crafts and then Andrew and I were ready to get out of the sun!
In the afternoon, some friends invited us over to their house for swimming, a barbecue and fireworks. The swimming was so fun. There were a couple of other families over as well. Brandon had so much fun with all the other kids that he stayed in the water until he was as pruny as could be. Whitney had a blast for about an hour and then was ready to get out and dried off.
When it got dark enough to light fireworks, we all took a walk to the end of a cul-de-sac to set them off. On the way there, it started sprinkling ever so lightly. All of the kids got to do one sparkler and by the time they were done it was raining just a little harder. They lit one big sparkler firecracker and by the time it was done, it was pouring rain! We said quick goodbyes and ran to our cars! Brandon was disappointed for the second day in a row. We tried to teach him to look on the bright side--if it would've started raining earlier we wouldn't have been able to swim or have the BBQ and at least we got to light a sparkler!
Well, I'm off to pack for the big road trip to start tomorrow. I don't think I'll have internet access for a few days, so I might not be able to post until we get to my parents house. Hope the trips goes smoothly!!
Whitney's one sparkler for the year! Yippee!She wasn't even afraid of it.
"Mom, don't bother me while I'm working."
Brandon enjoying the pool with his mismatched water wings.
Aren't these cool costumes?
Whitney and Andrew are ready for the parade.
2 comments:
I just love our downtown. To me, it is the perfect size city.
Have a fun and safe trip - we will miss you!
Our 4th had some ups and downs too. I hope you are having fun on the trip!! Looking forward to hearing about it. Let us know how the kids are handling the car ride and what you're using to entertain them. Hope it's a blast.
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