When I was growing up we always did the same thing every 4th of July. My parents live overlooking the river where the city sets off the fireworks. So it was a perfect place to have a 4th party. And that's what we did...every year our house would be full of family and friends, eating goodies and watching fireworks. But looking back on my 4th of Julys recently...things have definitely changed.
The 4th of July is the first holiday that Paul and I celebrated together. He came to visit me in Florence. My parents were running a fireworks stand at the time, so we spent some of our time down there...it was the place to be! I can remember so many hours of sitting in the Fred Meyer parking lot, freezing my tail off in the 100 mile an hour wind (and my parents did even more of it than I did)!
The next year was the year we were getting married. It ended up being the last time I've spent the 4th in Florence since. The fireworks stand was still in effect, but we tried to stay away from it as much as possible. We went on a fun hike through the coastal forest and dunes.
Our first married 4th of July was spent in Cincinnati. My brother got married back there on the 7th of July, so we were all back there getting ready for the wedding. We went to a school parking lot (?) and watched fireworks from there. There was much more going on than fireworks that week though, so my memory of it is a little foggy.
Who knew that my 4th of Julys would be full of weddings just about as much as fireworks?! The next year my good friend, Michelle, got married on the 4th of July. So I was in Portland at her wedding. I think we saw some fireworks :)
2009 was the year that things really changed. We watched fireworks at Paul's aunt and uncle's house in Roseburg. His cousin, Jake, put on a great show! But this was our favorite show...
Last year Paul and I were helping out with our church's high school youth group rafting trip. We spent the weekend rafting and made it home just in time to take Grant to the baseball field in Medford to watch fireworks.
So...as is becoming our tradition for the 4th of July. We couldn't do things the same as we've always done. This one was different again. Some friends of ours live in Ashland and have always gone to the Ashland 4th of July parade. They invited us to join them this year. Grant really enjoyed the parade and had tons of fun hanging out with all his "girl" friends.
After the parade we walked around Ashland, had some pizza and ice cream, and tried to keep Grant out of the sun.
When we were satisfied with our tour of downtown we went to our friend's house to relax for the rest of the day. They have a wonderful pool, and there was another 2 year old BOY (!) for Grant to play with. (He doesn't get much time with boys as all of our friends have girls.) We had hamburgers and the guys played quite a bit of cornhole. I guess I was too busy enjoying myself to take any pictures of this part of the day. Ooops! :)
When it got dark, Brett brought out some little fireworks for Grant to watch. He loved the smoke bombs and ground bloom flowers.
If we had realized how much Grant would enjoy those, we might have just called it a night with that. But it was late already, so we decided to forge ahead with the rest of our plan for the day. We went to a park in Ashland to watch the big fireworks. The best moment was when it happened to be quiet, a firework went off, and Grant said "Awesome!" I don't think I've ever heard him say that word...but it was perfect! :)
