Happy 4th, everyone!

 

We spent the 3rd with our friends from school (Amelia pictured above).  Instead of getting pushed around and having a breakdown trying to keep track of our seven kids at the town parade, we opted for a (not so) quiet evening at their home.  Playing in the sprinklers, dinner, sparklers, bonfire with s’mores, and the town fireworks display, all from the comfort of the cul-du-sac!  Perfect summer evening.

 

Since we didn’t see the parade that night, we decided to trek out to a neighboring town to see theirs the next day.  It was a classic 4th of July parade with politicians, high school bands, and churches all handing out candy and hand shakes.  Even super tall Uncle Sam!

Patrick with sunscreen not really rubbed in giving a salute.

And, of course, the Wizard of Oz – apparently, a theatrical company advertising an upcoming show.  I’ve included it here because we were a little late to the parade.  In fact, we only got to see the last 10 or so entries, but we were at the very start of the parade route.  The boys were a little disappointed, so we got the bright idea to drive to the end of the parade route and hope the boys didn’t notice that it was the same parade.  They probably wouldn’t have noticed (maybe Joe and Patrick still haven’t) except that Luke remembered this entry and the jig was up.  We were caught.

  At Mass that morning (yes, so in case you’re keeping track, that’s one SUPER-late night out followed the next morning by Mass, then the –two- parades, then this…) a friend of mine told me about a 4th of July celebration in the town of Freistat.  The town is only (and I mean ONLY) a church on one corner and a pub on another corner, but the church puts on this big festival every 4th.  It was very kid friendly with games and hay-rides and tours of the old farms.

They also had dancing.  Not just any dancing, but old-world German dancing.  Only in Wisconsin can you celebrate the quintessentially American holiday with German food and dance.

This is how the fun day ended.