Friday, July 2, 2010

Three cheers for the red, white and blue

So do you have plans for the 4th of July? Hubs returned home this am very, very early and will actually be staying put for the long weekend. He was traveling again last week which I think I told you was his modus operandi for the summer. Brazil this time... he even managed to be there during World Cup play which apparently they take pre-tty seriously. Plus its winter in S.A. so he got a little reprieve from the lovely humidity we've been experiencing. Anyway, we don't have much happening in the way of plans but there will be a bbq, a baseball game, and fireworks thrown in there somewhere.

Flashback Friday's theme today is 4th of July memories from your childhood. To be honest I don't have real specific memories of the 4th. We probably went to the pool, we may have cooked out on the grill or sometimes had a cookout with family friends, and we often made homemade ice cream. We always churned the ice cream in the garage...it required a lot of sweat on the part of my dad and brother while my sister and I took turns sitting on top of the machine to keep it from 'walking' while they cranked. Today you just plug them in and voila, ice cream without all the work. It still tastes good but something is missing....I think the hard work made it just a little bit sweeter.

When our girls were young and we lived in Annapolis we used to love going over to the Naval Academy to watch the fireworks. My hubs office was downtown so we always had a parking space and we'd bring the red wagon and load up the cooler with a picnic and sit on a blanket on the sea wall lawn with lots of other families. We all loved this and sometimes friends came too. We always brought a few things for the kids to do while we waited for darkness to come and my daughters entertained everyone around us with their amazing hula hoop skills.



Annapolis always had fantastic fireworks out on the river and its an absolutely beautiful spot so lots of sweet memories from those days.

I suppose I cannot write a post pertaining to fireworks without mentioning a little 'incident' that occurred one year when we spent the week of the 4th at the beach with friends. My hubs grew up in Tennessee where you buy your fireworks at the fireworks super store and we'd been to Tenn earlier that year so we did a little shopping in anticipation of the 4th. As you might imagine I was not a fan of setting off your own fireworks and spewed out danger warnings and tales of potential mishap, but hubs would not be deterred.

Anyway we had rented a house with friends and their little girls at a beach that will remain nameless for the week of the 4th. Hubs brought his fireworks along and was so excited about shooting them off later in the week. The problem was, the first day we were there we saw a 'no fireworks' sign posted as one of about 15 'do not do' things on signs along the boardwalk. He was wildly disappointed.

The night of the 4th we were sitting out on the beach when all of a sudden somebody in a house a few blocks back set off some of their own fireworks. That was all it took and hubs was out of his beach chair jogging back to the house to get his stash. Rules schmules. He and our friend J set up what they liked to refer to as the staging area and J's wife (C) and I gathered up the children to go stand far far away on the boardwalk. It was pitch black so you couldn't see the guys at all but boy, you could see the fireworks. He definitely got his money's worth as attested to by a boy standing near us with his mom who uttered, 'Wow, these are better than the city's show!"

About that time my friend and I and our small children heard another voice...it was heard over the static of a police radio and it was uttered by an officer on a bicycle not a foot away (where did he come from?) who said, "I think I've got the perpetrators in sight" Whaaaat??!! We scooped up our children, discreetly of course, and herded them towards the house before they could proudly exclaim, "that's my dad!" C hustled over to the staging area to tell the boys ixnay on the ireworksay. As we hustled the girls along we began to note all the very many bicycle officers on duty, all poised for when 'whoever' was shooting off the fireworks lit the next fuse.

The small children were crying just a little by the time we got back to the house concerned the Daddies would go to jail. We moms kind of worried about the same thing but assured them by saying, 'No, we'll just have to pay a whopping big fine and oh yeah, say goodbye to this sweet beach town because we will never be able to return.'

All's well that ends well though and the 'perps' were not apprehended...they arrived safely home a short time later. And our girls had some great material to use in their back to school essay come September....you know, "What did you do on your summer vacation?" Daughter2's answer may have involved 'we ran from the police." oops. No haters now...we learned our lesson. Well, the girls and I did anyway.

I'm linking this post up with Flashback Friday over at Mocha with Linda's...stop by to read more July 4th memories.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend...God bless America!



16 comments:

  1. That's a great story! Glad they didn't get put in the slammer. ahahaha! I'm guessin the look on your face was priceless when you heard the officer say, "I think I've got the perpetrators in sight." Oh my! lol. Have a fabulous weekend enjoying the fireworks of your town. Blessings, SusanD

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  2. Wow. Life on the edge! LOL I'm glad you didn't have to bail your husband out of jail!

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  3. Grand story, hope your weekend is a very blessed one. Hugs barbara

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  4. How funny! I am still chuckling, I can just see your face when you heard the cop's voice. Your girls will enjoy retelling that to their kids one of these years. I love it! At least you didn't have to post bail money. I have to say it is a funny feeling when you are surrounded all of a sudden. Been there, done that. (involved 8 cop cars) lol. okay moving on.... Thanks for sharing!
    until next time... nel

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  5. LOL! I can so see your hubs doing that! My brother & SIL were in Brazil during the last World Cup; she said it was ridiculous!

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  6. Oh, this was a great story! Thanks for making me laugh on a day when I really need a laugh!!! I don't know what part was funnier, the part where the cops showed up, or the thought of what could've been in that back to school essay! Have a great 4th!

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  7. love the fireworks memory...how funny
    enjoy your Holiday!

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  8. hubs and LJ would be bosom friends.

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  9. That's too funny.
    Happy 4th July, I lived near Baltimore and Annapolis for 6 yrs but we never went to the fireworks, I always thought it was too crowded!

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  10. What a great family story. It sounds amazingly like some of our camping trips. Rules? Schmules!

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  11. I am so glad that you get to spend the 4th together. We don't have a lot planned either. You are married to such a rebel! We've had a few incidents in our days too and some involved fireworks and the beach!

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  12. Loved your fireworks memory! So funny!
    Happy 4th of July!! Enjoy your family time.

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  13. I remember that night in Duck!! I randomly came across your Facebook profile and thought I'd check out your blog. This, of course, happened to be the latest post. Don't think us "kids" had much of an idea what was going on that night...I only vividly remember the awesome fireworks, taking a picture with you of our red, white, and blue panties, and how the night ended - with K swimming in our pool, in her clothes!

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  14. What a great story....well, to read, anyway. It probably wasn't so great to experience, at first, before you knew there wasn't going to be a fine or incarceration of said husbands! LOL
    The fireworks at Annapolis sound wonderful!
    Have a great 4th, Joyce and I'm so happy for you that the hubs is home for the weekend! :-)

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  15. Wonderful memories. We still hand crank our homemade ice cream. LBeau and got a White Mountain hand crank ice cream freezer as a wedding gift almost 40 years ago. Made some ice cream last Sunday for a Sunday School class ice cream social. I'll be posting the pictures soon.

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