4th of July 2021

We celebrated Independence Day by going to an outdoor potluck hosted by friends from church. We all also got to meet baby Maggie for the first time! Now that she's nearly one and walking and everything. Leah was particularly enamored. 

It was very, very hot, but decently nice in the shade. Of course, the kids were running all around out of the shade. I think they look quite nice, if somewhat sweaty and squinty, in their red-white-and-blue outfits. 

Amelie got a hunk of bark stuck in her toe while climbing a tree that required some minor first aid. (Not pictured.) James ate several kinds of desserts. We also got to see and pet their very tame chickens. I lost track of Amelie momentarily, but she was just in the chicken coop. 

We wanted to watch the big municipal display like always, but there were several challenges. Not the least is our dog, whose baseline neuroses were all on full alert due to the random firecrackers being set off in the neighborhood and more of us being gone at the same time since Uncle Joe and Aunt Jen were visiting. So I decided we'd bring him with us, and if he flipped out, I'd go back and do crisis intervention with him in the van. I didn't know how he'd do at the display, but I knew he'd be totally miserable at home alone. 

Sam's priorities were someplace that wouldn't be too crowded and most importantly, that would have little traffic and be easy to get out of quickly once the show was over. After much careful study, he decided upon the little park by our church and it turned out to be a good fit. There were more people there than I thought - still not a ton like normal at Flat Branch -  and a lot of folks were set up in the elementary school parking lot/playground across the street, but it was still easy to keep a good distance away from folks and we could see about 80% of the fireworks. It was a huge show, so 80% was still very impressive. 

It's hard to get a good picture at dusk: 

I think it's funny that I'm the one who moved and blurred this one. Spark thoroughly enjoyed himself and behaved like a normal, good dog! The fireworks didn't seem to bother him at all, just the kid who careened into our space (and even that was fine). 

I'm sure they got lots of bug bites in exchange for the better view lying on the grass. 

Here's what some of the earlier, lower fireworks were like just over the trees. The later ones were up higher in the sky.